Enjoying the Magic

In past years I have been somewhat uptight about Christmas. We didn't even get a tree the past two years because I didn't want to deal with Kevin knocking it down and breaking ornaments and biting lights. But this year I have been feeling like I need to just let them enjoy the magic of Christmas. Our friend Teresa left us their artificial tree last year before they moved away, so we set that up and put lights on it soon after finals were over. (By the way, a benefit of an artificial tree is that if it gets pulled over you don't have to worry about water spilled all over the floor.) (Why yes, Heidi did almost pull the tree on top of herself and it scared her to death.) The kids were so excited and fascinated with the lights. It was slightly stressful but I made myself step back and see things from their perspective and I could see how magical it was for them. Then today I finally got out the ornaments and the nativity sets and we put those out. The kids love to look at the nativity sets, and I let them look at my nativity set on the floor for a while before I got nervous and put it up high. As we got the ornaments out I realized that we really only have a couple of ornaments that I would be nervous would shatter. Most of the rest are made of wood or cloth or metal. So at least we don't have to worry about stepping on broken ornament glass. I really like that I can let the kids take the ornaments on and off if they want to, except a few that are purposely at the top of the tree. This year we are going to enjoy the magic.