And So It Begins...

One of my favorite parts of the holidays is letting the boys decorate a tree in their rooms.  It all started on a total whim... Ryan's Mom was getting rid of her "three trees" and asked if I wanted them before she took them to the thrift store.  I was at home with three tiny men and thought - sure!  They might like a little tree with multicolored lights to light up their rooms during the holidays.

WHOA.  They didn't like it --

 They LOVED it!

I think it's the thing they might anticipate most ever year after Thanksgiving.   So once our bags from Turkey day were unpacked, the boys hopped to it; dutifully unloading Christmas decor bins from the storage room to unearth their "three trees".  We loaded them into their rooms (best idea ever: we leave them lit and with the big red bows on top beneath some saran wrap!) and dug out their ziplock bags full of ornaments and BLAMMO - cue the proudest little grins you ever did see.  And clusters.  Lots of "clusters" of ornaments which I still have all the heart eyes for.  Dax is the cluster king.

We also got the living room tree up and guess what happened that night?  We got a special delivery from the North Pole... an elf named "Scout" who brought the boys elf jammies and told them he would be watching all the goings-on at the Gardner house and report back to Santa each night about the Gardner Guys antics.  They were intrigued, happy and a little sketched out by the whole thing.

I mean - just look at Dax's face!  :)

So here are my takeaways thus far this holiday season:

1.  Everyone needs a tree in their room.  Seems overindulgent at first, but listen, it need not be anything fancy... maybe even just a strand of twinkle lights over the twiggiest of Charlie Brown trees.  Believe me, with the littles - this will elicit smiles of the finest variety.

AND

2.  Everyone needs an elf from the North Pole.  Our little Scout just perches by and listens.  He doesn't do any naughty tricks or craziness - just peeps slyly from behind his killer lashes.  He is the lowest of maintenance and this time of year, he's been a great ally.

And this would be the first of the holiday posts to come this month.

Merry Memories to all and to All a Good Night!