Oh Christmas Tree...

On Wednesday night, the guys brought in the Christmas tree. We'd had wonderful Currier and Ives dreams of driving up to Idaho and cutting down our own Christmas tree while creating warm, fuzzy memories. We then started thinking about hauling our trio to the boonies in Idaho, trudging through the cold, and trying our hand at lumber jacking... Steve wasn't as warm and fuzzy about the idea. His idea was to put up our artificial tree (that won't die before Christmas) and light a pine-scented candle. We decided to wait until the baby is older to have that adventure. So they brought it in from the garage and put it up. We actually decorated it last night. The end result was quite charming, fun, and festive.

As we embarked on this annual family Christmas kick-off, I grabbed the camera to capture the sweet moments of my children decorating the tree. Umm..nope, didn't get much of that. They did have a great time. They just didn't have many Kodak moments between Bailey getting tired and cranky, Rachel being sooo excited that she lost all impulse control, Matt losing patience with afore-mentioned excited three year-old, and Steve coming down with flu-like symptoms and shivering with cold chills while telling the kids not to touch anything as he put together the train at the bottom of the tree. Ahhh...creating Foster Family memories.





Matthew was good to pause for one sole actual tree-decorating picture. It was fun getting all the ornaments out. We start with the "ornament parade" during which we line up all the ornaments that each child has acquired since birth. Our family tradition is to let each child choose their own ornament every year. They generally choose one that reflects their interests that particular year. This year Bailey's is a gift from her sweet aunt and it's a "Cherished Teddies Baby's First Christmas." Rachel picked Dora the Explorer after long and careful deliberation. We'll have to keep you posted as to Matthew's. He hasn't quite found just the right one yet.

Rachel was such a bundle of excitement and energy that she had kind of a tough time containing it. As a result, she was being too rough with her baby sister. After several warnings, I resorted to telling her that I was going to take a picture of her being naughty and send it to Santa. (I know, this is what causes people to need therapy as adults.) She ran and hid behind Bailey's chair so I couldn't document anything for Santa Claus.

Bailey wanted to chew on everything in sight. She adopted this snowman.

After Rachel decided "to make better choices," she turned up the Christmas music and danced, and danced, and danced.

Overall, the decorating was really fun and the house looks cute. We only had a few fights, a few melt-downs, and one time out. To cap off the night, Matthew and Rachel sat down and shared a bowl of ravioli as a little bedtime snack.