ornaments

How to decorate a perfect Christmas tree with kids

catherinemryan

Christmas is the best time of year no matter what, but it gets even better when you have kids. You get to relive the excitement of waking up Christmas morning, the joy of tearing through wrapping paper, the wonder of listening for jingle bells and hooves on the rooftop. And now that you have kids, you can decorate the perfect Christmas tree. (‘Cause kids never break Christmas decorations, right?)

To make this super-straightforward task even simpler, I’ve broken down how to decorate the perfect Christmas tree into just 18 easy steps. So what are you waiting for? Round up the kids and get ready to have the most Pinterest-perfect Christmas tree of all time!

How to decorate the perfect Christmas tree with kids. Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more →

Toddler, aka Christmas destroyer

catherinemryan

Kiwi, at two years old, is single-handedly wrecking Christmas.

Ok not really, but this toddler is destroying Christmas decorations at an alarming pace.

“Be very careful,” she says as she pulls an ornament off the tree, despite our “one finger” rule, which I designed to let her sort-of touch the fragile baubles without actually inflicting any harm.

In spite of her promises/self-warnings, though, ornaments end up in pieces within seconds.

So far, several penguins, two angels, a snowman, a chairlift full of animals Eric had previously declared “unbreakable” and another handful of decorations are awaiting repair—or, more likely, the trash—in a makeshift ornament graveyard atop the microwave. And we still have a week until Christmas—plenty of time for more casualties.

Our toddler is single-handedly wrecking Christmas, but I don't mind. Here's why. Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more →

Make a Christmas tree for animals

catherinemryan

When we traveled to the Midwest for Christmas last year, I figured we’d be cold. But then we arrived at the tail end of a winter storm and our first day in Chicago had a forecasted high of 10 degrees. People. 10 degrees. So yes, we were cold. And when we arrived at my in-laws’ house in Michigan and saw so many animal footprints in the snow, I thought of all those critters struggling to survive the long winter months with scarce food and low temps.

So in the days leading up to Christmas, I wanted to give the critters a little present. The girls, their grandparents and I thought we’d provide a little holiday treat: We made a Christmas tree for animals.

How to make a Christmas tree for animals: A new holiday family activity to do good! Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more →

‘Twas the night before Christmas

catherinemryan

IMG_4769“Tis the season of lowered expectations,” I recently texted a dear friend and fellow mom of two. Because in this month of hyped-up hopes and dreams of how you’d like to celebrate, the reality is it’s hard to keep up—especially when you have a few kiddos in the mix.

So this year I tried to scale back what I planned to do at Christmas with my girls.

IMG_4766
Peeper really, really likes Christmas jammies.

Lowering Christmas expectations

It was hard to minimize expectations because Peeper is so into Christmas. If she’s refusing wind-down time before bed, I mention Christmas jammies and she sprints to her room. I bribe her not with candy or TV time but with the privilege of putting an ornament on the tree. She literally jumps up and down when I return from the mailbox: She wants to open “Christmas mail.” I’m pretty sure I could call asparagus Christmas trees and she’d dig in.

(Hey, that’s actually a good idea. I may try that.)

Yet when the day we’d planned to cut our own Christmas tree turned into a deluge, I said we could go to the lot instead. And when Kiwi was having a hard morning—and therefore I was having a hard morning—I suggested Eric take Peeper. And when the day got later and we were approaching Peeper’s nap time, I agreed that he should go by himself. And when it took the entire day to get the darn tree into the house, I didn’t mind (too much). And when we put up ornaments piecemeal throughout the week instead of decorating the tree as a family, I sighed but realized I could live with it.

See? Lowered expectations. Read more →