Christmas Trees: A Guide to Choosing, Decorating and Enjoying Your Tree All Season Long

The tradition of a decorated evergreen as a symbol of Christmas began in Germany in 1605.   The first American tree to be decorated was in Boston, in 1832, and while we don't decorate our tree with lit candles as they did that year, after all electric tree lights were invented in 1898, my family does love our Christmas tree tradition and harvesting and decorating it together is the way we have kicked off our Christmas celebration for as long as I can remember.

We choose to harvest a fresh tree.   This tradition works for us for a few reasons.  First we don't have any allergies to worry about.  Second we love supporting a small family farm where we can go every year and support local business and learn a bit about the life cycle of a tree in the process.  Finally, our city has a great recycling program where trees can be turned in after the season and ground into mulch to be used in city parks and landscape.  We love that our tree can live on another season and help make our city beautiful!  If you can't cut a fresh tree, there are many beautiful artificial trees to choose from.  We always get our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

We always prepare for the arrival of our tree before we go and get it. We clear the spot, put down a bag to collect it in after we are done with it, and a stand to set it in, so when the tree comes home, it can just be put right in it's place. We also prepare a special tree shaped treat to enjoy This is the cupcake tree we made one year. It was super easy, just make and frost enough cupcakes to make the shape of a tree and then decorate with whatever fun candy or sprinkles you'd like, we used m&m's! This is a darling idea for cupcake trees using a candy cane and a sugar cone. These brownie trees are fun and easy too.

We follow the same pattern for decorating our tree every year. First, the girls get their "Christmas PJ's" for the year and slip them on.  Then we read a story about a Christmas tree together. Then we pick a Christmas Cd to listen to. Sometimes we all pick one and then put our Cd player on random so we hear a bit of all of them. Then we decorate. I generally unwrap the ornaments and pass them out. Each girl has a collection of ornaments that belong to her. Some are first Christmas ornaments, some were given as gifts. Once all the "owned" ornaments are up, we take turns putting up the rest. It is our custom to pick up an ornament from each place we travel so we have a lot of fun "remembering" as we decorate. We don't do any store bought ornaments that don't have meaning, in other words everything on our tree is either a memory of ours or a gift from someone dear to us. We love to chat and decorate together. When we are done, we take pictures in front of the tree and then watch a Christmas movie together by the light of the tree. It does take a whole evening to do, but we love this tradition and it really is a good way to stop and focus on the people we love before life gets too busy to enjoy them!

We try to light the tree each night that we are home.  Sometimes we do simple things like eat dinner picnic style around it.  Sometimes we sit around it and read our bedtime books.  Sometimes we use it as a light source for family movie night.  It might not look the same each day, but we do try to really enjoy the tree, it's beauty and the people it represents during this season of love and giving.  This year we have to work a little extra hard to make sure the baby enjoys the tree in a way that is safe.  Here are a few tip for helping babies and Christmas trees live together peacefully.  

1.  Place a sturdy chair in front of the tree when the baby is in the room.  Often the chair will serve as a great distraction as it can be pulled up on as well as pounded on!

2.  Place a baby safe container full of soft toys on the chair.  Baby's curiosity can be peaked before she ever reaches the tree as she works to get to the tub, dump it out and enjoy it's contents.

3.  Only light the tree when someone is in the room to keep an eye on baby.  A tree that isn't sparkling, isn't nearly as inviting!

4.  Keep lots of things on hand to redirect baby's attention with.  We have a stash of board books and a tub of noisy toys close by that serve as great attention grabbers and soon the tree is out of mind.

We hope our traditions will help you choose, decorate and enjoy a tree of your own this season.