who's letting go of CHRISTMAS CONTROL ISSUES?

getting in the Christmas spirit, here is tess' list of how she is giving, and getting that good feeling in return. and if the mathematically inclined among you note that there are not 10 listed...well, it isn't the 25th yet. 

10) it is a known fact that i want to be like my friend who doesn't let her kids decorate the Christmas tree. she is in design and has a gorgeous tree, resplendent with bows and minimalist items. LOVE IT. her kids decorate other bits of the house, but the tree, is hers.

but last night, when it was time to decorate the tree, sebastian pinched one of the branches of our very charlie brown tree and said, "this is the cutest tree we have ever had", and suddenly, we very much had a family Christmas tree. the kids haphazardly placed ornaments ANYWHERE, (i won't even talk about the lights and the ropes of silver beads because it makes me feel faint), and they had a great time except for the time when carys knocked jasper off a step.

and if i made firm suggestions every once and a while, possibly you can just focus on the progress i have made so far. and note, I DID NOT ADJUST ONE THING THEY DID TO THE TREE AFTER THEY WENT TO SLEEP. i am so proud of myself!

9) today was carys' Christmas pageant at small world. she was an angel. i decided to give her free rein in choosing a costume (also figuring, how much damage could an angel do? she'll wear white, she'll wear wings!) well...this is true, BUT the little cow decided that she wanted to wear a mangy dress with permanent red marker stains on it, that was too long in the arms and streelish looking. and then she wanted to wear flip flops. (!) and, peeps...I LET HER.

i know, you're asking, who is this mother? (by the looks of my child as she walked into school today, a mother who can't be bothered to do laundry!)

but we are not done.

8) we had to bring a plate of goodies for the post play production. carys and i made cupcakes. i had a dream of choc cupcakes (kids fave) with light pink icing. when it came time to add the red food dye to the icing, carys asked if she could help, and i said YES. and OF COURSE the light baby pink icing turned out magenta. it looked like each and every frigging one of those cupcakes should have chalk outlines around them, but carys was enchanted. i KNEW she was going to put too much dye in, but i let her. and then, i thought yellow and purple sprinkles would look good. she wanted orange and red. what colours (and let's not even talk quantities!) do you think made it on the cupcakes? (and later mouths)

she was absolutely gorgeous. if we all ask charles nicely...maybe he will post pix tomorrow???

xoxoxo

Comments

[Mo aka Maureen aka Grandmother aka Mum]

Tess? Is this Tess? My Tess? I don't think it can be...... it is not possible that a daughter, born to me - flesh of my flesh, etc. etc., could allow her child out in public in anything that was not colour coordinated, clean and not ratty looking.

If this is MY Tess, then I am sooooooo intensely proud of you. Well done, sweetheart! I could never do that and totally commend you. You are a delight!!

Much love and DYING for pictures.

M xox

[Carrie in MN]

ahhh the joys of letting go!. Alex left for school in a horribly mis matced shirt/sweatpant (ug!) combination. Im sure the teachers think that we never buy the child new clothes. The more "used" the better in his world. We also have a completely child decorated tree this year and the kids love it. Maybe next year we can promote symetry? Love ya!

[Dad aka GDad Blake]

You are making progress. What you really need now are a dog and a cat to enjoy the Christmas.
1) hang cookies from the tree. The dog will enjoy them.Make sure the dog knows the tree does not need to be watered.
2) hang silver ornaments on the tree. Cats love to haul off and swat shiny dangly ornaments.Caution the cat the tree is not to be used as a perch which might entice the dog to knock the cat off the perch.
Lve to all.....Dad

[Denby]

You know, I have to let you know that I let the girls help me with the tree this year (GASP!). Don't you know it nearly made me hyperventilate, but if I claim that "I buy an ornament for my children each year" and then forbid them to participate then I am robbing them and me of precious memories. SO, I let them hang their own precious ornaments on the tree - even the most fragile ones - and they also helped with the glass crystals. Shae's eyes shone with delight. It was worth it. I even let their little friends (who had come over for a playdate as we were finishing up the tree) hang some. I was a good mum that day....! So, are we both growing up, or are we just learning to appreciate the precious ways that our offspring enrich our attempts at moments of perfection???! You inspire me. Dx
PS I moved some of the girls' ornaments - but I did it while we were still in the throws of decorating and they saw me do it, so I think it's ok.

[JoeInVegas]

So nice of you to let the kids have the tree - it still looks nice, and they know they did it. You can decorate it all you want after they grow up and move out. (oh, heavens, to think of such things)

[tripleblessings]

She could not possibly be more angelic and beautiful.
There was a very good "Cathy" cartoon on December 8 about decorating the tree. I'm trying not to be quite as much of a rule-maker as Cathy, but it's hard!
Maybe this link will work?
http://www.gocomics.com/features/35/feature_items/398036