Christmas Corner

We decided not to put our big tree up this year. At first I decided and Jared vehemently disapproved. After listening to his arguments in favor of the tree, and realizing he wasn't going to give up, I conceded. I actually did a good job of convincing myself that putting up the big tree would be a good idea, despite the fact that I'd never be able to take an eye or a hand off the child who is already giving me the workout of my life. I assured myself that I could indeed see to it that this glorious child of ours wouldn't pull the tree down on top of herself, crush any glass ornaments in her delicate hands, or swallow any tinsel. I gave myself a pep talk--surely I wouldn't go insane over three short weeks of micro-managing my baby's activities and getting screamed at every time I physically removed her from the danger zone.

So we were in agreement then. The tree would go up. And I would never let Meg leave my sight this holiday season. I was okay with that.

Decorating day arrived and I told Jared to get the tree. He then made the split-second decision not to put up a tree this year due to self-proclaimed laziness.

Since when was laziness a better excuse than the motive to protect both a child and the mental well-being of the child's mother? Oh, well. If I were to break it down, my motives likely translated into laziness as well. I'm just not as quick or willing to admit it as Jared is (I'm giving him a point for honesty).

It didn't take long for my mind to settle peacefully on the decision to go tree-less this year. Except then we told the kids and I didn't feel so peaceful anymore. Once I explained our reasons and described my idea for a "Christmas corner", Leah was fine with it, but Brita was disturbed. She made an effort to be strong and to indulge my request to withhold judgment until she saw the final product. She's okay with it now, especially since I let her and Leah put a few ornaments on our small trees (their choice of ornaments was very revealing...made me glad I saved all their handmade school gifts). But she still asks me every once in a while if we're positively going to put up our big tree next year, just to make sure.

Even though our current tree situation isn't ideal for some, we're still going to celebrate the holidays this year, and the girls will still get a visit from Santa. And next year we'll definitely, maybe, most likely put up a bigger tree. But for now, the Christmas corner is meeting our needs and at least one little girl is thrilled with it.