Christmas is So Not Happening

At least as far as decorating goes...

The kids (these are Doug's kids, you know) like to take ornaments and play with them. Aka destroy them. In the past, I have held off until close to Christmas to decorate the tree. Some years, it's Christmas Eve. This year it's going to be Christmas Eve.

I have the tree up - it's been up for about a week. The lights have even been strung. Malena is strenuously opposed to waiting for ornaments. In defiance, she "decorated" the tree with whatever she could find...on the floor. There's a stuffed swan as a tree topper, and even socks and shoes. This effort required pictures.

Oh, and the other kids helped...Jack and Malena were the most proud, however.

Once that was cleared off, we had a few days of just lights. As there are no ornaments to destroy, the boys have decided to try a new tactic. They are pulling out the light bulbs. The glass portion, they bring to me. And are very proud of themselves. The plastic bit gets left on the ground.

Can we say, "AAARRRRRGGGHH!?!?!?"

Yesterday I fixed all the light bulbs - they had pulled out about 50 - and put a star on top. The kids were quite pleased that we at least had a star. But that's not the end of the story.

Last night, they put the glasses from a Mr. Potato Head on the star. No kidding. I am very proud of myself - I did not lose it. If it wouldn't have encouraged them, I would have probably taken pictures. They were sternly warned to leave the decorations alone, though...or Christmas is So Not Happening.

But I'm such a wuss, it will probably happen anyway. They're only kids once, right?