Christmas Tree Fun

Well, we are not wasting any time here in the Rowe household, and we are definitely decking our halls with bells of polly.  Today Ethan and Julia went to pick out our 2012 Christmas tree, which is now proudly on display in our living room.  The family tree decorating was off to a rocky start, as Madeleine seemed confused by the idea of having only one tree to represent the entire Rowe family. 

MADELEINE: But...when am I going to pick out MY Christmas tree?
ME: This is our tree, honey.  This tree is for our whole family!
MADELEINE: But I want to pick out MY Christmas tree.
ME: This is for all of us.  We don't each get our own trees.
MADELEINE: But I need to pick out MY Christmas tree.
ME: We only get one tree for our whole family.  This is Madeleine's tree, and Julia's tree, and Mommy and Daddy's tree, and on Christmas morning there will be presents all underneath and-
MADELEINE: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Seriously.  Broken-hearted tears over the injustice of not getting to pick out her own Christmas tree.

Madeleine's demeanor improved, however, once she got a chance to riffle through the ornament box with Julia.  Discovering she had her VERY OWN ornament to hang cheered her almost instantaneously.  Next thing I knew, the tears had completely disappeared, and Julia and Madeleine were cheerfully making their ornaments sing made-up songs and twirl around together:

In case the pictures don't do the experience justice, I also captured their singing on video:



Madeleine wound up enjoying herself thoroughly as we decorated the tree, hanging up ornaments and declaring, "Perfect!" after each was set on its branch.  The final product just needed a few adult tweaks to balance the ornaments out, and we were in business:

Ta-da!


After the tree was finished, I dressed the girls in their Christmas dresses and attempted to snap this year's Christmas card photo.  I wound up filling the entire memory card in my camera during the photo shoot, wherein Julia smiled obediently the whole time and Madeleine appeared to be completely disinterested in the fact that there was a camera out and people trying to get her attention:

Let the holiday season begin!