The Children's Tree

One thing that really matters to children is having the chance to participate in getting ready for big events. Tiniest Tiffin loves decorating the tree, but it's so early we can't really bring ourselves to buy a lovely, expensive tree that we know is going to dry out and become a fire hazard well before December 25th.

Our compromise? We let him choose a very small tree to beautify for all of us. He decorated it with small woodland animal ornaments and put an angel near them to keep watch, added two glamorous bulbs, and a Santa on the top.

To help him manage his excitement, we put something fun under this tree: a stack of 24 (now though, we're down to 20) holiday books, books we've had for a long time, having collected them for years. He and his brothers wrapped these books up like presents, which gave them practice with scissors and tape. Every evening, we've been choosing, unwrapping and reading one book. As the stack under the children's tree gets smaller, it reminds us of how close we are to the Big Day. And even though the books are ones we know well, this doesn't seem to have diminished anyone's pleasure in either the wrapping or the unwrapping. (And don't despair: If you don't have 24 holiday books, there's no reason you can't use library books you've borrowed for the duration of the season, or even books that are favorites, and have no connection to the season. This is a tip that also works for counting down to birthdays: you can wrap in colorful birthday paper, a week of favorite books to help with that count-down.)

It's going to be a lovely holiday season. I hope your preparations are going well. If you'd like a recipe for yummy spice cookies, I'll be posting one over at the TiffinTin a little later today.

This Post was written by BlogLily from the TiffinTin.