Continuing the Journey

The Christmas Season Gets Interesting...When The Grinch Lives in Your House!

When Daddy and I first got married (back when we were just Kevin and Teresa 'cause there were no kids yet), he was the most excited celebrator of Christmas...almost child-like in his enthusiasm. Our first Christmas together in our tiny little apartment (which was so small, we used to joke that we had to go outside even to change our minds 'cause there was no room inside to change anything), I begged him to get a "Charlie Brown tree" because we just didn't have room for a full-sized one. He went to the Christmas tree lot...and returned with a humongous tree!! It was hard to be angry with him...he was so proud of himself and so excited about our first Christmas together as a married couple. So we put the tree in the kitchen, right by the front door ('cause the living room was too small) and struggled through the month of December squeezing past that monstrous tree to get in and out of our apartment.

Somewhere in the last 20 years, after we switched to an artificial tree after many frustrating years of pine needles EVERYWHERE, Daddy lost that child-like Christmas enthusiasm and turned into...the Grinch! Don't get me wrong, he goes along with Christmas...he just complains and growls through the whole process. Over the years, Meggie and I have made sport of aggravating him from Halloween until New Year's Day...sneaking Christmas movies in the VCR/DVD on movie nights in early November, turning his car radio to stations that play 24/7 Christmas music, things like that. To put it simply, we drive the poor Grinchy guy crazy!

We used to put the Christmas tree up the weekend nearest my birthday (which is December 9th), but have slowly moved it earlier and earlier...now our tradition is to put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving. Daddy hates it, but he'll do it.

This year, since I had to work the day after Thanksgiving and Meggie had to babysit in the evening that Friday, we convinced Daddy to put the tree up the day BEFORE Thanksgiving! Can you BELIEVE it?! Truly a feat, let me tell ya!

Last year, Carson was just too new to our family to understand Christmas or be excited about any of the hoop-la. This year is different. I have made an effort to show Carson the traditional Christmas shows (which I taped off of TV many years ago so Meggie could watch them whenever she wanted -- I even cut out the commercials!) so he would understand the idea of Christmas, we sing Christmas songs in the van, and I think he's starting to get it. He was truly excited -- and a bit confused -- when we put a tree up in our family room.

Care to see a few pictures? I thought you might.

Here, Carson is helping Mommy untangle the garland for the tree...
...until I tricked him and tangled him up in it!!
We took a picture of Daddy "going through the motions" as we decorated the tree. I've made it smaller than the rest of the pictures so it will not destroy the wonderful Christmas spirit of this post......oops, wrong picture. However, if you look at the REAL picture of Daddy "going through the motions," you'll notice an uncanny resemblance to the actual Grinch pictured above...
...oooo, he's a mean one! Carson was a bit excited (which can sometimes be confused with annoying when you're in a Grinchy frame of mind) and Daddy had enough. He decided if Carson wouldn't stop jumping around and talking incessantly, he was going to put Carson on the tree...
...and while Carson thought it was a fun idea, we couldn't get the poor boy to stick up there!

When Daddy plugged in the Christmas lights, Carson was convinced they were birthday candles and kept trying to blow them out! Hysterical!!
The Teenager thought a nice back massage would calm our enthusiastic elf down...
...but the massage quickly turned to this...
...and Carson was more wound up than ever!

Since Meggie was told not to bear weight on her injured foot last weekend, the only way she could help was to do this...
...and she got pretty tired of working on her knees, so her help was short-lived.

Meggie, can you believe we tricked Daddy into putting up the tree so early?!
Oh, wait, you cut our heads off in that picture. Let's try again. Meggie, can you believe we tricked Daddy into putting up the tree so early?!
Oh, shoot! Daddy snuck a "thumbs down" into that shot. One more attempt...
...and Carson got into the act!

Every year, the first ornament on the tree MUST be Daddy's favorite one...a Notre Dame ornament I bought him many years ago. (Have you ever seen the movie "Rudy"? That movie is my husband in a nutshell when it comes to Notre Dame football.) It isn't a Christmas tradition as much as a way to try to get Daddy excited about decorating the tree. This year, as Daddy was conferring the privilege of that ornament's placement to his son...
...Meggie snuck a couple of ornaments onto the tree just for spite! What a stinker she is (...girl after my own heart...). Here is a photo of Carson's placement of that beloved ornament, with Daddy's help...
...and Meggie's pride that she "pulled one over" on dear ole' Dad!
When we plugged in the Santa that Grandma and Grandpa B bought us a few years ago, Carson was in awe...
...and couldn't figure out how that thing was moving on its own! He doesn't understand the Santa concept and kept calling him "Kwis-mass." Not understanding the concept didn't stop him from LOVING that Santa...
...and I even caught this sweet shot of him giving Santa a quiet little hug.
When it was all said and done, Daddy survived and we had some fun family time. I turned the flash off on the camera to get a picture of the finished product...
...there is NOTHING like the soft glow of Christmas lights on a cold night!

Still much more to post...including an update on Meggie's foot injury and my unveiling of my awesome 40th birthday present from my husband, which I got last night and am bursting to share! Pictures to come...