Decorating the Christmas Tree

Saturday night Sofia and I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa. We went to Mass at Saint Catherine's. The last time Sofia went to church with Grandma a woman complimented Sofia saying she had never in her life seen such a well-behaved child at church. I had to see for myself! And she really was very good. I've been using her as an excuse not to go to church so it seems as if I no longer have an excuse which is good because I've missed it!

The priest's homily talked about Advent and the quietness of spiritual preparations before Christmas. All I could think about was how I, as many others he pointed out, planned on putting up the Christmas tree the following day. Maybe next year we'll start the tradition of decorating the tree on Christmas Eve and using Advent for it's true purpose: to reflect back and to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord’s (and Sofia's) first coming into this world...

But this year the tree goes up early. Sofia helped me put lights on the tree. She really loved it! It was so fun to watch her.





Dan had to work, but Grandma was there to help. She brought Sofia an ornament and it was the first ornament on the tree. Sofia loves to help do things so she was having a ball.







Soon it was time for Sofia to take a nap and Grandma and I got to work; putting up ornaments, sharing stories of our favorite ornaments and memories of past Christmases and of family members and loved ones who are gone. It was a nice couple of hours and when we were done we had a beautiful tree full of memories and family ornaments.



We really missed Dan being there and I wanted him to be a part of it so I saved the tree topper for him to put on once he got home from work.

After Sofia's nap I couldn't wait for her to get her first look at the finished tree. I think she was as impressed as I'd hope for her to be. She pointed out all the animals and angels and stars and other things she could recognize. I'm hopeful all the ornaments won't be too tempting for her to pull off the tree but so far so good! I let her play with the special ornament Grandma brought and she loves taking it off and putting it on over and over again.









We also pulled out Sofia's Little People nativity set and she LOVED it! My mom loved nativity scenes. She collected them and I remember them being all over our house during Christmas growing up. When Matthew was a baby she found out that Fisher Price made a Little People version of it and she was so excited to get it for him. Julie remembered how meaningful that was for Mom and last Christmas gave Sofia her own to play with. It was such a thoughtful and kind gift and I was so excited to set it up for her this Christmas.

Grandma helped set it up with her and Sofia had so much fun with it. She knows which one is "baby Sheejush" (Jesus, of course) and Mary and the animals and loves to push the angel down so it will sing Away in a Manger.









It was so much fun. And the next morning she insisted on bringing baby Jesus to breakfast.



She told me "baby Sheejush seepee" and then put her adorable, tiny little finger to her mouth and shushed me.



She cracks me up! We love her so much and we are so excited to share the Christmas season with her creating so many memories and creating our own traditions.