Toddler Tales Week 23: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

In our house, the end of Thanksgiving marks the beginning of Christmas and thus the time for Christmas decorating...

When we got home from the UP on Sunday, Eric got our tree into the tree stand and took it into the house.  Asher was quite interested that there was a full-size tree in the Living Room.

On Monday, Asher went to daycare while we went to work.  After I had been at work only a few minutes, I received this email from Eric:

"We walked into Christinas today to a fully decorated Christmas Tree.  I said to Asher, “Look, Christina has a tree in her house too.”  He immediately said, “Down, down.”  I put him down and he headed right for it and stopped a few feet in front of it and just stared.  I told him it was for looking only and he listened.  It was really cute.  I can’t wait until he gets to see ours decorated.  Have a wonderful day."

That evening, when I picked Asher up after work I asked how he was doing with the tree.  She said great and that he had left it alone all day.  She did tell me that the cat likes to lay in the corner of the room behind the tree though, so Asher spent much of the day laying under it, pointing at the cat and saying, "mow".  As we headed out to the car, they had their Christmas lights on, so I stopped and showed them to Asher and said, "aren't they pretty?". He said, "preey" back to me and then pointed at the lights.  Now he says it all the time and loves to point at all of the holiday decorations exclaiming how "preey" they are!  :)

On Tuesday, I finally got around to putting lights on the tree.  Asher "helped" me and insisted to climb my step ladder with me as I reached to the top of the tree.  Per tradition, I also had Rudolph on while I worked on the tree and Asher was able to enjoy it for the first time, although he still really isn't very interested in anything on the TV.

On Wednesday, Asher and I enjoyed our day off together with some fun time at home, a great nap (for him, productive time for me) and then an afternoon shopping in preparation for Cookie Weekend.  Since a few of our strands of lights from previous years didn't work, I also picked up a couple of those so that I could finish lighting the tree and we could decorate.  

That night, Eric and I thought that we would decorate the tree after Asher had gone to bed.  We wanted him to have a part in it, but didn't want all of his "help" so that he wouldn't learn that playing with the ornaments and tree was okay.  So, before Asher went to bed, I got the ornament that we bought on our vacation last summer (Santa driving a horse-drawn carriage from Mackinac Island, MI), and then helped Asher put the first ornament on the tree.  While holding Asher I put the ornament at the end of a branch and then Asher helped me push it on and attach it.  Then, satisfied that Asher had been able to take part in at least a part of the Christmas tree decorating, I put him down on the floor.  However, Asher was NOT satisfied.  He stood next to the tree and then touched a branch.  Knowing that we would have to teach him that the tree is for looking not for touching, we gently told him basically that.  He touched the tree again...I again told him, "no no, the tree is just for looking, not for touching."  Then, he touched the tree again, this time much more aggressively.  Again I told him, "no, no...", and again he touched the tree, this time hitting a branch out of very clear frustration.  We pushed his hand away, told him again that he could not touch the tree and then the pouty lip came out in full force, followed by another hit of the tree, knowing what was coming next.  Finally, I told him one last time that he could not touch the tree or its ornaments and then on cue, the waterworks came.  Asher burst into tears and fell right into my arms, completely inconsolable that the tree was off limits.

I hugged him and snuggled him for a whiled as he vented his frustration and then when he started to settle down, Eric distracted him with something fun that he likes to do.  He laid Asher down under the tree and then laid next to him to stare up at the "pree" lights.  Asher seemed to love it.  He couldn't touch the tree, but that didn't mean that he couldn't enjoy it.  For a few minutes (or as long as a toddler's patience lasts) they laid there, side by side, while I attempted to get a decent picture (as Eric told me later, "you are horrible at taking pictures in low light"...sad, but true).

On Thursday, Eric and I finally got around to decorating the tree (Wednesday we were quite unmotivated after Asher went to bed) and the rest of the interior of our home after he got home from a church meeting and Asher was in bed.  I also bravely got out my manger scene and having no other place to put it assembled it on the top of our bookshelf (within Asher's reach).  I didn't put everything out, just the essential pieces to see how Asher would do with them.

Video: Asher Playing at Home Thursday Evening (while Eric was gone at a meeting)

On Friday morning, Asher surprisingly didn't pay any attention to the manger scene.  However, that night I hung the Mistletoes of his that we made last year up in the doorway and then picked him up to give him some kisses under them.  When he got himself out of my cuddles but was still up in my arms he looked around the room and noticed the manger scene for what must have been the first time.  He immediately started saying "rarrrr, rarrrr", followed by "down" (his other new favorite word).  I let him down and then Eric and I watched to see what he would do next, ready to intervene if he went for the fragile pieces.  Instead, he walked right over too and looked at all of the animals and continued to say "rarrr, rarr" without touching a thing (we did tell him that none of the manger animals actually say "rarr").  Like the tree we told him it was just for looking and not for touching.  Unlike the tree, he was perfectly content with that.  He just looked for a while, pointing to all of the animals and then went away to play with his other toys again!  I was elated, and after seeing that I decided to put the rest of the pieces out (you can ask after Christmas if I regret my decision).

Also that night, Eric got out the outdoor decorations in preparation for Saturday afternoon and plugged everything in to see what worked and what did not.  We were sad to find that only one strand of our outdoor lights still worked, resulting in a trip to Menards on Saturday, and only 2 of our 4 yard decorations worked.  When Eric plugged in one of the working ones (affectionally named "Squatty Snowman"), Asher was in awe of it and just stared at it while again pointing and saying "pree, pree".

Video: Asher, Eric & The Squatty Snowman

Then on Saturday, after getting the new lights, Eric braved the cold to decorate the outside of our home.  A BIG thanks to him as it looks great and a BIG thanks to Aunt Bonnie and Rachel for the beautiful wreath!

So, that was our week and now that I'm typing this all up, I've realized that I need to add a few end-result pictures...

The finished outside decorations (no thanks to me)

The Tree...taken with Asher's help