The post about Christmas got me thinking. Do you let your children decorate the tree or do you want to do it yourself so it looks just so.

DH and I put the lights on and the higher ornaments and the kids usually do the lower portion of the tree. I have to admit though...I would like to have a "nice" tree sometimes.

By Luvn29 on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 07:27 pm:

DH and I put the lights on and then we let the kids go to town. DS is still young enough that he has a bad habit of bunching, but he's coming out of it a little.

They do a pretty good job. I unwrap and get the ornaments hooked, and they put them on where ever they want. I wouldn't have it any other way. I get such enjoyment out of watching them, and they get such enjoyment out of doing it.

By Yjja123 on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 07:38 pm:

The lights are on before Thanksgiving (we put a tree up after Halloween because we celebrate Christmas on Thanksgiving with in-laws). So it has the popcorn & cranberry garlands and lights on. After Thanksgiving the kids decorate the tree. Yes--it looks kinda bunched up in places but I think it adds to the charm. I have never wanted a tree like the decorators do but sometimes I have to stop myself from moving an ornament around.

By Breann on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 07:43 pm:

I do the lights. The kids help with the ornaments. I kind of help guide them in the right direction ;)

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 07:54 pm:

I've always done the lights and then let the kids have at the tree. If one area started getting too *crowded*, I'd tell them to start putting ornaments somewhere else. I rarely moved an ornament after they placed it on the tree. And we had home made ornaments and ornaments made in preschool or elementary school that went on there right next to the glass ornamenets. We even had Nuk pacifier and a baby toothbrush on the tree for a few years. LOL

By Melanie on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 07:58 pm:

Dh and I do the lights and I hang my breakable ornaments up high. The kids do the rest. I go through them and set them into piles for each kid to put up. Their piles are their photo ornaments through the years (their favorites...mine too),their ornaments that we have given them through the years, and, of course, the ornaments they made.

By Trina~moderator on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 08:21 pm:

We put the lights on and DD (7) decorates most of the tree. She really gets into it! DS has never really seem interested. It's not the best looking tree but it certainly was decorated with love!

By Emily7 on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 08:30 pm:

My kids helped with our tree & have redone it SEVERAL times since putting it up. I have groupings of colors, ornaments 3 to a branch...but I don't have the heart to change it & will treasure the pictures of it. I know that in years to come they will not feel like helping, so I don't mind that it looks like a 2 year old & a 4 year old decorated it...

By Colette on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 08:47 pm:

I do the lights and the kids do the tree - I don't mind if all of the ornaments are in one spot or just on one side of the tree as long as they have fun doing it.

By Mommmie on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 09:26 pm:

My son has zero interest in decorating the tree, so he doesn't do any of it.

By Tink on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 10:27 pm:

Dh and I put the lights on and a few "very" breakable ornaments but the kids do most of it. Once we have the space, I'd like to do a family tree and a "professional" tree. I don't know if I'll always do that but I'd like to at least once.

By Missbookworm on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 10:45 pm:

My little ones and I decorate the tree together and like Breann I give them a "little" guidance. They're pretty good at it and if it looks lopsided I don't care I love doing it with them

I put on all the lights though and the star.

By Cat on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 11:56 pm:

We all put the tree together (don't do real trees for several reasons), dh puts the lights on and the kids decorate. I've gotten to the point where I just don't care what it looks like! lol So you can tell kids decorated the tree.

By Marcia on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 12:18 am:

I do the lights and some of the breakables, and they do the rest. Most of our decorations are home made now, or pictures. I love how it looks!

By Dawnk777 on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 12:27 am:

My kids are 16 and 13. I did the lights last night and they put everything else on. This is the first time they have seen the task through to the end.

When looking at it today, they realized that some of them were bunched up and one ornament is a stuffed snowman and Jasmine was too interested in it, so that one got moved up higher. A few other breakable ones were also moved a little higher. I don't have little ones, but these could have fallen off if someone got too close to the tree. We really didn't do that much adjusting today. They did a great job!

Christmas Tree Pics

By Beth on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 08:22 am:

They certainly help dh and I. But I do move stuff when they are not looking. They didn't seem to notice. I do have a tree upstairs also that has a lot of Christopher Radko. So that is more my designer tree. DD helped with that to. I wish she wouldn't because of the break factor. But I didn't have the heart to get rid of her so to speak. So we were just extra careful and I tried to guide her to the fake radko's.

By Sunny on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 09:03 am:

We decorate the tree together. Some of the kids get into it more than others.
It used to be that Dh would put the lights on and I would decorate the rest, but now my older boys and I do the lights together.

Just to show you how far we have come, this year we picked out our tree and brought it home, but DH got called out on a job before he could put it up. My 13 yr old took it upon himself to set the tree up and did a great job! LOL

By Conni on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 10:22 am:

Sunny- isnt that cool!! This isnt abot the tree- but when dh was splitting wood and my 13 yo and I were loading it on the trailer to bring home- he informed me that I basically was not stacking it correctly and took over. ROFL!!! Dh said that ds was right on. ;) I just cant believe how much they change and so fast. I have seen many instances in the last yr like this... sniff sniff

We have had a fake tree since Blake was 2yo. I told dh this yr is the LAST yr we are using it. We are going back to going to the tree farm and hunting for the perfect tree, cutting it down together and bringing it home. I miss doing that and I miss the smell of the real tree.

As for decorating dh helps with lights a little. Then I pretty much decorate the tree with some help from the kids... The first week after its up Blake rearranges, and then rearranges, and then rearranges the lower branches. lol I dont care it keeps him busy.

The kids all have a tabletop tree in their bdrms that they do whatever they want too. If they want messy icicles they can have them, or whatever...

I may use the fake tree next yr and use a real tree. Just have 2 trees. Thought about doing that this yr- but I didnt want to mess with it.

By Pamt on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 11:24 am:

I am so happy to see that just about everyone has kid-designed trees. Our trees are covered in ornaments that have been given to us or made by the kids and then we have the ornaments that we give the boys each year. They love to look over their old ornaments as they put them on the tree. I remember my neighbors growing up. They had the elegant and precisely decorated family tree in the living room and then a small tree in the den that the kids could decorate. I always felt so sorry for those kids that the ornaments that they had made were not felt worthy of being on the big tree. I figure after the kids leave home that we have the rest of our lives to have a perfect tree if we want one. For now, it's all about the kids.

By Bellajoe on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 11:43 am:

My kids help, of course. It's a family thing, there is no way i would decorate the tree with out my dh and kids all helping.

The kids are not allowed to hang my nice and breakable ornaments because, well, they would break them. This year my ds broke a beautiful glass christmas tree ornament my mom gave me last year. We of course didn't know he had it in his hands. The kids hang the non breakables. Of course after we are done decorating, i go and spread the ornaments around a bit to make it look nicer. If i didn't do that, the tree would have one big blob of ornaments on one side

By Kate on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 01:12 pm:

Well, I don't LIKE to decorate the tree, but I do prefer to do it so it does look nice. The kids put some on, but they lose interest and then I do rearrange any that need it. I try and keep it in a similar area, but if it's too crowded or it doesn't DANGLE (BIG pet peeve....ornaments should HANG AND DANGLE...if it's SITTING on a branch, or it juts out oddly due to a branch, it doesn't get to stay there in my house) I move it to a spot where it better belongs. As for all those homemade ornaments...ever stop to wonder if they kids care that much? Sure, they do for some of them, but ALL of them? They are mostly the teacher's ideas and SHE decides what to make and such...why do I want some teacher's idea of a Christmas ornament on my tree? If MY child designs it at home it means a lot more to me. The kids are merely doing the craft of the day at school....it doesn't mean much to them. And I definitely don't like the pastel yellow and blue popsicle stick thingy that says John 3:16 on it. I much prefer the GREEN painted popsicle sticks fashioned into a tree, and the baked dough Christmas tree. Sometimes the teachers really don't think if it LOOKS Christmas-y or if it's SMALL enough to fit on a normal tree.

So for the most part I am a scrooge/grinch who does appreciate a well decorated tree and prefers nice ornaments (including homemade ones, but NICE homemade ones that look like Christmas...I am not talking about level of skill here...it can be lopsided and crooked, but it has to be Christmas colors and be attractive). I also do my best to avoid certain colors such as white, silver, and all pastels. I stick to dark reds, greens, golds, blues, and purples.

By Luvn29 on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 08:38 pm:

My kids are always so proud of ALL of the ornaments they bring home simply because they made them even though they aren't their ideas...

You would not like our tree, lol!!! Last year in Kindy, my son made an ice cream ornament. It is made from a real ice cream cone, with a yellow "ball" ornament on top and painted whipped cream running down the side with sprinkles glued on it. It's not my idea of a Christmasy ornament, but my son (and my daughter who made a similar one when she was in kindy) would be devastated if I didn't hang them.

Heck, I even have two paper ornaments that are just colored that my son made last year in kindy hanging on the tree.

Then again, my kids are always so excited about everything they make that I have to keep almost everything like that.