Letting Go

I love Christmas. It is without a doubt my favorite time of the year and I love decorating the house for it. But I am a wee bit of a perfectionist when it comes to some things (it is a family trait), and one thing I have always insisted on is a perfectly decorated Christmas tree.

Now, you may not know that there are rules for decorating a Christmas tree. Yes, very strict rules. Rule number one is to put the light on the tree first. I mean every one knows that, that is Christmas Tree Decorating 101. If you own a Christmas tree that is pre-lit (like me), you can skip this part.

And for most people, that's where the rules stop. You throw the ornaments on and your finished. That is not the case for the individual in search of the perfectly decorated tree. The next step is to put on your garland, draping it jauntily across the branches. I tend to go for strings of red, wooden beads or rolls of ribbon or, if I am feeling ambitious, both.

Next, is solid colored, round ornaments. I am talking your garden variety Christmas balls. Mine happen to be red and silver. These should be placed midway back on the branch, nestled with in the tree (never on the branch tips). This gives your Christmas tree some dimension.

Finally, comes the decorative ornaments (your santas, snowmen, angels, etc). These are placed on the tips of the branches and you should take care to distribute like kind evenly around the tree. For example, my 20+ santa ornaments should be sprinkled all over the tree, never clustered close together. And yes, I have multiple classes of ornaments (the one my grandmother made, santas, snowmen, ornaments collected on trips, etc.).

Now, poor Adam has run afoul of the "rules" so many times he finally gave up and just lets me decorate the tree. I am fine with that. But this year, something had to give. With the recent surgery, I was just not up to decorating the perfect Christmas tree, physically or psychologically. I was too tired and I could not lift or stretch. On top of that, I have a four-year old who has been clamoring for days to decorate the Christmas tree. I had no choice, I had to let go.

So last night, Adam, Andrew and I decorated the Christmas tree. My dear, dear husband offered to drape the Christmas tree with the red, wooden beads, but honestly, I just wanted the darn thing decorated and that takes too long. So we just went to throwing on the ornaments. Adam and Andrew did put the solid red and silver balls on first and Adam did his best to make sure they were farther back on the branches. And then we started throwing on the ornaments.

Andrew worked twice as fast as his mother and father, so there are a large number of ornaments near the bottom of the tree. About half way through, we allowed him to climb up the ladder (with Adam's assistance) to hang ornaments. After that, he had to climb the ladder every time to hang ornaments, so there are a large number of ornaments in the middle section of the tree. The top of the tree, which was only reachable by Adam, is a little sparse. It is far from a perfectly decorated Christmas tree.

This morning, Andrew and I were preparing to go out front to get the newspaper and, on a whim, I flipped on the lights on the Christmas tree.

Andrew, with awe in his voice, said "Mommy, we have a beautiful Christmas tree."

And I have to agree with him, we do have a beautiful Christmas tree.