Dec. 1

Almost a week later and I think I've recovered enough to write about our tree decorating evening. Here is my Instagram worthy picture. The only reason it is idyllic is because no people are in the picture. I've described the evening as "chaotic misery."

We kicked off the evening's festivities with our first advent story. First off, Isaiah could not understand why he could not open every single door and completely decorate our "Jesse Tree" (see Unwrapping the Gift by Ann Voskamp). He begged and pleaded. I tried to explain. Aliza tried to explain. No luck. We moved on to the reading and it was completely unholy. Kids talking, complaining, moving around. There were parent's voices who were equally unholy telling to BE QUIET, SIT DOWN and HOLD STILL.

I was done before we even started on the tree. I washed dishes while Jeremy put the tree together and put on the lights. The lights seemed a little dull when I got to the living room and I asked Jeremy if we should put some more on. He told me in no uncertain terms that we had enough. I'm pretty sure he put headphones on at that point.

Four children were grabbing for decorations. Josiah was over tired from getting up early to go fishing and was crying by that point. Anna was super possessive over what decorations she wanted to put on the tree. She was accused of hoarding all the pretty decorations. Aliza was equal parts helpful and provoking. Isaiah was still fussing over the advent tree situation. And that pretty much continued with varying degrees of misery for the duration of tree decorating.

The last decoration was finally hung and I pushed the tree into the corner and turned off the ceiling light to admire it. The effect was less than satisfying. The lights had clearly dimmed from the time they were first plugged in. Jeremy did some research on LED lights and found that they dim as they burn out. Lucky for us my Dad had passed on a box of lights to me so we had plenty of replacement lights.

The next morning I UNdecorated the tree.

Jeremy hung new lights and I redecorated the tree. No one was very interested in decorating the tree the second time which was really alright with me.

This week I have allowed Isaiah to open the doors and look at the advent decorations without getting them out. That has satisfied him. He is starting to catch on to how this works. Last night Josiah asked to do our bedtime reading by the light of the tree. We did and it was fun and peaceful for the most part.