Last Saturday would have been my mom's 60th birthday. My brothers, sister and I got together with my nephews and decorated the tree, just as her family always used to do on her birthday. Here are some pics for Dad, who's stuck in Jersey on a temporary job.
The Tree, partially decorated.
Me and the boys start off the ornament hanging. The tree is not one of those designer-matchy things. We've got paper chains from the 50's, the old kind of lights that you can melt tinsel on, garland from when I was a kid, and every ornament any of us ever brought home from school, no matter how sad looking. It's very, shall we say, eclectic? But it's a great kid tree.
Daniel without shirt. He said his sweater itched, and he wanted to take it off. We tried to get him into a t-shirt, but he claimed it itched as well. So we let him go without for the all of five minutes it took until the puppy jumped up to lick him, and he discovered that claws scratch much more on bare skin. Much crying ensued - the kind where he doesn't think he's getting quite enough sympathy for his major wounding. He agreed to let me cut the tags out of the t-shirt, then we were good to go.
Jon and boys decorating.
The boys.
Nepi. This puppy thinks the tree is the shiniest, brightest new toy we've ever brought her.
Jon hanging ornaments.
Michael proudly sporting Santa gear.
Daniel wants to be Santa, too. His quote of the day: "Merry Christmas to you!!" (Pointing at random person in room). He's really getting the concept this year, and excitement is building. This is the peak time: old enough to get the idea of Santa, young enough to believe utterly.
Karie, Rod and the boys. Daniel was singing his "hanging ornaments" song. Just a kind of repetition: "ormanents, ormanents." He only liked the ones with hooks on them, no ribbons.
Daniel decorating.
Everybody decorate.
Daniel's version of tree decorating is quite similar to his father's. When I was about seven or eight, two-year-old Jon kept stringing sixteen ornaments on one branch. I'd tell him to cut it out, take fifteen of them off, and put them elsewhere - only to come back and find he'd strung another bunch right back on.
Michael narks on Daniel for hanging all the candy canes in one spot. He's way more laid back about it than I was. Somebody take away his "first born" certificate until he can prove he's sufficiently neurotic.
The obligatory "standing in front of the tree" shot. Of course, Mom would've moved the ornament box out of the sight line, but hey. . .
Obligatory standing in front of tree shot #2. Nope, we haven't caught on to the 'moving the box' thing yet. Thank goodness for crop tools.
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