My first Christmas as a Baby Buncher I remember our "bare bottom" tree. (See picture) For every ornament I put up, my son took one down and hid it somewhere. We He broke three of them the first week. By the end we finally just removed them all within his reach, hence the top heaviness of the tree. (Notice the very European tree style.)
The following year we moved up in the world to ornaments on the bottom that could be removed and put back without breaking. This was an activity itself. Alex graciously shared his knowledge of removing the ornaments with his sister. The two were true partners in crime. The lesson I had learned the year before was to spend little time decorating it since children were bound to undecorate it at their will when I wasn’t looking.
Last year our tree became bottom heavy when both kids insisted on putting all the decorations on in one spot. I would try to disperse them later on but their favorites kept creeping back in front—again and again.
I am now happily celebrating my fourth Christmas as a Baby Buncher, and I have learned some valuable lessons in tree decorating.
1. Do the tree in stages and accept it. Yes, it could be an all-day project or a 2-day project. Put the lights on when the kids are napping (or at least your most verbal one is napping) otherwise he'll ask you a million times if it’s time to put on the ornaments. That amount of pestering might lead you to throw your tree out the window.
2. Fill a shoebox of “kid-friendly” ornaments for the tree before you start taking out everything else. Give the kids the box of all the ones you don’t care about, minus the hooks. Let them go to town while you sit back and drink a cup of tea.
3. Then plop your angel/star on the top and celebrate the end of the "tree decorating."
4. When kids go to bed, hang your precious ornaments with the hooks and smile at your craftiness. I knew there was a reason my friend Kristi told me her parents decorated the tree in secret away from she and her four siblings and made it a special “Christmas surprise.”
‘Tis the season to outsmart your children, right?!!
I look forward to the day my tree can have the "good" ornaments on it again.
Two tips we've used with good results: (1)there are safe "hooks" that are really oval shapes made completely of plastic, and they actually lock to make them harder to remove and swallow and... (2) if you can put your tree against the wall, use fishing line and some small nails to anchor your tree to the wall in at least two places. This will make it less likely to tip over should someone decide it needs to be climbed or enthusiastically redecorated.
Posted by: Rachel S | Dec 08, 2008 at 01:17 PM
Yes, thanks Rachel for mentioning the fishing line. That's a great idea. Our tree has tipped over on at least one of my kids two years in a row. Super fun!
Posted by: Baby Bunching | Dec 08, 2008 at 03:16 PM
Maybe this is the real reason for the old tradition that trees were decorated on Christmas Eve by "Santa".
Posted by: Molly | Dec 08, 2008 at 03:55 PM
For ornaments that aren't too heavy, my husband discovered that twisty ties from trash bags work quite nicely as "hooks".
Posted by: AmyS | Dec 08, 2008 at 04:41 PM
You guys are brave to even put up a tree. We aren't sure if we're going to this year, we bought a play yard from Walmart to put it in but it's not big enough that the kids can't reach it from the outside. I guess maybe next year they'll be old enough to keep away from it. Rachel's suggestion about hooking it to the wall is a good one, I may try that...
Posted by: Casey | Dec 08, 2008 at 07:13 PM
last year we decided on a small table top tree b/c I knew they would've tag teamed my almost 6 months pregnant butt and took out a normal sized tree any chance they got. I would've had to carry a 1 & 2 year old with me to the toilet every time I had to go...that was not gonna happen! This year although not pregnant, we weren't gonna risk it, they're both pretty squirrely. We settled on a tree made of glass ornament bulbs. It's on the mantle and out of the way of sticky little fingers and clumsy little feet. Perhaps next year we'll have a "real sized" tree. Of course then my youngest will be 1.5...hmmm. I guess we'll have to play this by year. Attaching it to the wall is starting to sound good right about now.
Posted by: beth | Dec 08, 2008 at 07:17 PM
We haven't put our tree up yet for this very reason. Well, that and our apartment is too small to be occupied by things like "decorations." All the space in the living room is vital. We might have to just get a houseplant and put some bulbs on there! :)
Tara
http://theyoungmommylife.com
Posted by: Tara Pringle Jefferson | Dec 08, 2008 at 10:46 PM
We used a play yard around the tree last year for our then 2 and 1 year olds ... worked great, just a bit of a space hog and made it harder for us to water the tree! This year the play yard is currently sitting out on our front porch as an incentive ... if the girls get too rough with the ornaments, up it will go!
Posted by: Sue | Dec 09, 2008 at 09:58 AM
ah! this is brilliant! i especially love the "kid-friendly" ornament box. especially after i spent a good chuck of last night screaming "don't touch THAT ONE!" and "put that one back. GENTLY." or "please wait for mommy before touching those!!"
Posted by: J. fergie | Dec 10, 2008 at 11:50 AM