Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Holiday How-To #5: Decorate for Christmas if you've got a rambunctious toddler (or a cat)

Decorating for Christmas presented a whole new set of challenges this year. Kaylee is a climber, a daredevil, and loves to put things around her neck, so the thought of having a Christmas tree up this year was starting to give me heartburn.

I figured she'd do one of four things:

1. Climb the tree
2. Pull the tree over on herself
3. Try to make the lights into a necklace
4. Remove all ornaments from the tree and hide them wherever it is she is currently hiding 22 of her 24 crayons and all but one of her pacifiers.

I hate heartburn, so we opted to do things differently this year.

First order of business?

We downgraded from last year's tree...

...to this year's tree...


We're pretty partial to our Christmas tree ornaments, some of which were our very first Christmas ornaments on our first Christmases. We don't have a Martha Stewart matching tree and we never will (although I will admit part of me would love to have an elegantly decorated color coordinated tree - I think I'd go with pink and silver). We love our collection of ornaments that commemorate special events that happened each year, and Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without them.

So...we came up with this idea for our entryway, which - believe it or not - was not inspired by anything in Better Homes and Gardens or the Martha Stewart magazine.


And, for the part of me that loves decorations that are beautiful and color coordinated, we have this, which Kaylee cannot destroy - I hope.


Now, I realize that it's a bit late in the game to be giving you tips for Christmas decorating. I mean - shoot - it's just a couple days away. But, hopefully this will give you some inspiration for next year.

And, I'd just like to throw it out there that I got all my Christmas decorations for 90% off at Target and Michael's during their after Christmas sales last year, so get in on that bit of shopping heaven a couple weeks after Christmas and you'll be set for next year.

Also - for you cat lovers out there, my totally rockin' and not the least bit cheesy wall display of ornaments will work wonderfully if for some reason you decide to opt out of a Christmas tree as a result of an adventurous cat (my dear friend Deb got to experience this first hand this year).

This post is my 5th Holiday How-To post, inspired by Summer's Holiday How-To Blog Carnival at Le Musings of Moi.

5 comments:

Jenners said...

I like how you solved the problem ... it looks great hanging on the wall like that. And we get all our Christmas stuff at the sales after it is over -- hitting Target with the coveted 75% off (only crap is left at 90% off). It is always a surprise to see what we picked up the year before.

If I don't get back before the holiday, have a merry merry happy happy Christmas!

Mom said...

Hey Sera,

Dad and I were remembering the year we put our Christmas Tree in the playpen when you were a busy little toddler! Good Times!

baludec23 said...

Good post, nice pictures. Thanks for share useful information.

Alicia said...

oh man...this is what i should have done!! between the kids and the dogs my ornaments are everywhere BUT the tree!

Deb said...

i almost missed your shout out to me in my excitement to comment on what a friggin GENIUS you are! i love all of your ideas... especially since i have a tree-climbing cat, older kids who are not as into it anymore, and a complete lack of motivation on my part to go overboard!!! in fact, next year, maybe we will each get our own little trees and decorate them however we want. LOVE the ornaments hanging on the bead garland.

merry christmas, lil mama!

 
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