Deck the Halls…

We just finished putting up our Christmas tree not even an hour ago. Already, The Princess has smashed one of my favorite ornaments. It was the first, but it most certainly won’t be the last. Hubby had been putting up the tree and I was out of the room burping Pumpkin (how festive, right?), when I heard him tell The Princess, “That’s why I told you to be careful!” Then I heard her yell and stomp out of the room.

Evidently, she decided she had to do a somersault…. right over the glass bulb ornament that her former babysitter had made for me. It splintered into dozens of tiny glass shards (both Hubby and I cut ourselves trying to get the pieces out of the carpet). The Princess is actually quite lucky she didn’t cut her back when the glass smashed. Not even a tiny scratch on her – thank goodness!

The ornament certainly wasn’t our most expensive ornament (actually that prize goes to this gaudy ornament that was a gift from a former boss), but it was one of those meaningful ones. You know, the best kind. It was a baby pic of The Princess in a glass bulb with some sparkles inside and her name written on it in glitter. Yeah, I could probably make another one. Would it be the same? Not even close.

I attach a great deal of sentiment to the ornaments that go on the Christmas tree. I have a friend (you know who you are!) who has a gorgeous Christmas tree and all of her ornaments match (actually, as I type this, I realize I have two friends that do this… hmmmm…). It’s gorgeous. But not my tree. My tree is a giant potpourri of ornaments – some beautiful and delicate, some kid-crafted, some from when I was a kid, and so on. There are very few ornaments on the tree that don’t hold a special meaning for me.

I smile when I put my Starbucks ornament on (a gift from a secret santa at work last year). I have a gorgeous ornament that Hubby had made for me the Christmas after we were married. I have pictures of The Princess for all of her Christmases so far. I have an ornament she made in daycare last year. She even made a Dora the Explorer ornament yesterday. And, I got to add Pumpkin’s “Baby’s First Christmas” ornament.

All of it means so much to me, that I know I’m going to have to just put the cheap, meaningless ornaments on the bottom of the tree, so no more of my memories get squashed! ‘Tis the season for childproofing the Christmas tree.