Our 2008 Christmas Tree

I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I know, earth shattering confession to those that know me. Anyways, when it came to decorating the tree this year, Ian decided to have a pretty strong opinion about how the tree should look, and let's just say our "decorative tastes" are a wee bit different. It all started when I went out to the store and left Greg and Ian to start the lights. Greg is usually in charge of the lights and I'm the ornament hanger. Greg and I differ in Christmas Tree Decor also, I prefer clear lights and Greg likes the multi-colored ones, so we agreed years ago to alternate years. When I returned home from the store, Greg met me in the kitchen and told me that Ian wanted to do the lights by himself, so to brace myself. I tried to put my perfectionism in my pocket when I saw the tree, Ian was SO proud of himself! He had decided to do a mixture of clear and multi-colored (he told me that since they used the clear ones too this year, we could have multi-colored again next year as well, sneaky little monkey!), and as you can imagine, due to his height, there were about a million or so lights on the bottom (so many strands it was weighing the bottom branches down and leaving a big gap) and a sprinkling on the top that Greg had put on before Ian took over. It was hard, but I bit my tongue. I'm ashamed to admit that my mind immediately went to what we were going to do after Ian went to bed to fix it. When he was younger, that would have been fine, but he would surely notice now and he was so proud of his accomplishment! Greg had to snap me back to reality, he's good at that; and I'm so glad he did because seriously, when he's grown and out of the house, what am I going to remember; the year we had yet another "perfectly decorated tree"? No, I'll remember the year Ian used fourteen strands of lights on the bottom third of the tree, or the year he insisted on decorating the tree with pipe cleaners and feathers. They are only little once! We did end up adding one more strand of lights to the top though, with Ian's approval so the top would have a mix of clear and multi-color as well. Anyways, after I loosened up some, I ended up letting Ian have free reign of the ornaments as well, right down to the single strand of gold ribbon, the fore mentioned feather/pipe cleaner ornaments, and the brand new addition of a 9-volt battery tied to a string he insisted was the perfect ornament addition this year. It certainly didn't end up the way I envisioned, but it was perfect anyways. The memories made are what lasts, long after the tree is gone, right? Okay, on to the pictures!

Ana caught in the act trying to get into the water shortly after the tree went up!

Ian adding the solo strand of gold ribbon:

Ana enjoyed helping hanging the ornaments too, but more enjoyed taking them off after they were on!

Most of her time though, was spent giving Rudolph a new hairdo:



Just a couple of cuties, having fun
(note Ian's "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" grin, I love it!):

The Fraize Family Christmas Tree for 2008
and it's creator, Ian