Peachy Tip: My Lopsided Christmas Tree

My Christmas tree started changing last year. I swore I would always have a real Christmas tree in the house. I love the smell of pine mixed with holiday baking in the air.

But, with the introduction of a baby, we didn't want the hassle of taking out pine needles out of our little one's mouth. Plus, I already had my hands full changing diapers, much less remembering to water the tree. So, out with the live tree, in with the fake one, complete with lights already hung!

When it came time to put the Christmas tree up this year, it was only a matter of minutes that it was ready for ornaments to be hung. But since TJ is a walking a toddler this year, I had a new problem. Crash! My ornaments were now at arms length away from TJ's experiments with gravity (yeah, bright light balls to hurl onto the ground!)

I love putting together a well-balanced tree. I even pack my ornaments in the order in which they appear on the tree, so that each year, I get a good balance of ornament balls vs. "knick-knack" ornaments, red and green vs. silver and gold, and of course, my all-time favorites sprinkled in a random fashion around the tree. Maybe it's my way of having some sort of order and control. Beauty and peaceful are words that come to mind when I finish hanging that final ornament.

Not this year. In order to avoid having smashed ornaments splattered on the floor, I'm forced to hang all my ball ornaments on the upper part of the tree. Plus, TJ insists on helping hang ornaments on the tree, and the only ones he can hang are the ones with the stringed loops. That means all the decorations that require hooks have also migrated to the top of the tree. On top of that, only the ornaments that are soft and can safely fall to the floor are the ones that have to line the bottom of the tree.

So, what I have ended up with is a lopsided Christmas Tree. I have to be honest. I am not used to see the tree so disheveled. In fact, throughout the day, I notice the tree looks different each time. You see, TJ loves decorating the tree so much, that he loves taking down the ornaments and rehanging them. So, even when I might have gotten used to seeing the tree a certain way, TJ can get struck with artistic inspiration and the whole thing is tweaked again.

I used to pass my tree and think, "aaaahhh.. nice.." Now, I think, "lopsided tree with balls on top and soft loopy ornaments on the bottom". I know, it was really cute to see TJ hanging ornaments so meticulously. And I know I'm gonna look back fondly on these memories on the first Christmas he'll be away for the holidays. Yeah, one day I'll miss that Lopsided Christmas tree. We'll see.

Cross-posted at Silicon Valley Moms Blog where Bonnie is a contributing Mom Blogger.