love, us: 11 Things That Happen When Decorating a Christmas Tree With Small Kids

Last week we finally put up and decorated our Christmas Tree. I say finally because it was TWO days after Thanksgiving! *gasp* I'm usually a day after kinda gal and as a kid we would always decorate the weekend before Thanksgiving. Decorating with the girls this year was basically the best. Even if there are a million ornaments on the bottom.

11 Things That Happen When Decorating a Christmas Tree with Small Kids:

1. Two trees are purchased. One of them is "theirs", hoping that they will leave the main Christmas tree looking Martha Stewart catalog ready. In reality, both end up being theirs.

2. Your classic, chic, white lights are exchanged for colored lights. Because white is boring to 4 and 2 year olds.

3. You have to bite your tongue when the ornaments aren't completely symmetrical. This one was a hard one for me. Before kids I was a mathematician when it came to ornament placement. Ie: There are 12 snowflake ornaments. Divide the the tree into 4 sides and place 3 snowflakes on each side.

4. All of the ornaments end up on the tree. ALL of them. New ones, old ones, broken ones, homemade ones, 80 bulbs, etc. There is no such thing as "too many ornaments" when it comes to kids.

5. 100 percent of the ornaments your 2 year old puts up, are on the bottom. And you are okay with it. My husband: "Are you going to move some of them later?" Me: "Nope. I'm a changed woman. It's the sweetest."

6. At least two ornaments will break. They will likely be your children's favorites. And they will be so sad about it and your husband will have to desperately glue Charlie Brown's hat back on.

7. You hide YOUR favorites on the back of the tree so those won't get broken. You know, the clear bulb filled with flowers from your wedding day. And your porcelain snowman that says "Baby's First Christmas".

8. Your children will think the ornaments are toys, and will pull off all of the character ornaments to play with. Hence why Charlie Brown and Mickey Mouse are broken.

9. Zero candy canes will be put on the tree. Because there is no way a 4 or 2 year old can survive all month long being told they are not allowed to eat the candy off of the tree.

10. Both kids will insist they put the star on top. They will fight and fight, despite there being two trees.

11. When all is said and done, as you sip on your eggnog and rum, while the movie "Elf" is playing in the background, you will look at your tree despite it's imperfections and think, "That, is the most perfect tree ever."