Christmas Tree Decorating Tradition

Happy December! Only THREE weeks until Christmas! Where has time gone?!? Our house is mostly decked, our elf is back, we visited Santa, we're already checking items off of our Christmas Bucket List, and shopping has commenced. This year, I'm determined to ENJOY the season, rather than be stressed the entire month!

We kicked off the Christmas season on Black Friday this year, by setting up our tree. Most of our crew was at sleepovers, so we didn't get to decorate it until a few days later. It was definitely nice to enjoy the lights from the Christmas Tree so early this year!

Our first Christmas Tradition each year is to have a Family Christmas Tree Decorating Night. Although I spent the entire weekend following Thanksgiving decorating our house, we all gathered on November 26th for one of our favorite traditions. We started to celebrate Christmas together by putting up our Christmas Tree!

Our Christmas Tree Decorating Tradition is a bit chaotic, but so much fun! We enjoy a family dinner together, then gather in the living room with all of our decorating supplies. We set aside a few hours to complete the task, then get to work while listening to Christmas music! 

Grant is always in charge of unwrapping each ornament and handing them out one by one to be hung on the tree by the kids (or me), while I take the pictures and help as needed. Each of our children have special ornaments of their own. They love rediscovering favorite ornaments they received in the past, and finding the perfect spot on the tree to display them!

Yes, I think themed trees are absolutely beautiful, but our Family Christmas Tree is full of memories, and will always be my favorite. I have no doubt that I'm going to cry when I pack up each child's ornaments to give to them when they are grown up! (Although this one is ours to keep...we get a family ornament on vacation every year!)

All of our kids love our Christmas Tree Decorating Tradition, but as you can see, some are more enthusiastic than others!

 

Just kidding....this is more like it!

I absolutely love watching our kids work together to decorate the tree, and seeing the joy on their faces when they spot a favorite ornament that they forgot about!

This year, we even had an extra supervisor!

Of course, she took a break to offer up horseback rides...

The moments aren't all magical and perfect. That's simply the reality in a large family. There's always some bickering or wrestling, noise, and chaos, but there's also a whole lot of love! (And a pregnant mom who felt VERY sick!)

The last ornament(s) we always hang up are the pickles! Maybe you already know about the pickle tradition, but it has been a tradition in my family since I was a child. My dad's family is German, and apparently it's an old German tradition to hide a ceramic pickle ornament in the Christmas Tree. Whoever finds it ends up with an extra gift! 

We somehow ended up with two pickle ornaments! We have the kids leave the room, then Grant hides them in the tree. They always race back in to search! This year, Lily found both pickles!

We always end our Christmas Tree Decorating Tradition by letting one of the kids put the star on top of the tree. We started this tradtion years ago, so we rotate through the kids each year, and Grant keeps a list of which year each child put up the star. (Of course, this year, Grant had to remind me that Dylan only had one more chance to put up the star before he turns 18...cue the giant alligator tears!!!)

This year, Lexie got to put the star on the tree!

I don't have a "finished" picture of the tree just yet, because it's now over a week later, and I still have to add the ribbon. Perhaps that will be my project tomorrow! It definitely looks beautiful, though!

Before everyone ran off, I made the kids pose for a few quick sibling photos! Ella saw them gathering together in front of the tree, and had to run over to join them. They now know that they have to watch out for Ella's tongue! 😂 (Sometimes the candid shots are my favorite!)

We had a great time kicking off the Christmas season! The kids had fun working together to decorate our Family Christmas Tree, and shared a lot of laughs along the way. It was a memorable night, and our beautiful Christmas Tree is now full of memorable ornaments!

Christmas Tree Decorating Traditions to start with your family:

• Have a Christmas Tree Decorating night each year with your family to officially start the holiday season. Have a family dinner, enjoy special treats, put on Christmas music, and just have fun! 
• Choose a special family ornament each year to hang on your tree.
• Buy an ornament from the places you travel to each year to hang on your tree.
• Buy each child a special ornament each year that perfectly represents them or their year. When they are grown up, you can give them a box of special ornaments for their own Christmas Tree!
• Start a "German Christmas Pickle" ornament traditions.
• Let your kids take turns each year hanging the star on the tree!