November 26th

Monday 26th Tress called us tonight to come over after dinner and help them trim their Christmas tree. When we arrived we saw Tress had her hands full with two eager helpers digging in all the boxes wanting to hang ornaments before the lights were even strung. Sharon and Tress hung the lights while Kent untangled some of the lights and took pictures. This was a fun thing to do and since we don't have a tree for our house, Sharon is enjoying helping and watching the little ones do theirs. They always seem to hang all their ornaments in the same place and if you quietly move one, they immediately notice it and move it back. I remember the days of 4 little helpers a year apart in age helping me trim the tree. After they went to bed, I moved things around a little and didn't worry too much about it being perfect. The joy of a tree is decorating it together. I always had a lot of home made things made in school they could hang and rehang and feel a big part of the family tree. I had some very small Santa mugs and when the tree was done, they drank hot cocoa in them while we looked at our beautiful tree with the lights shining so pretty. When I baked Christmas cookies they drank hot green tea out of these same tiny cups.When I was helping Tress with the tree, I found it has been a few years since I have watched little ones do it their way and I found it hard to leave it alone and not try to move everything into place. I think that is why God gives us our children when we are so young, so we can have the patience to let them help and the wisdom to see the beauty of the tree through a child's eyes.