About Sweetmama Editor
Nadine Silverthorne’s love of journaling began in Grade One with the entry, “I am the greatest dancer!” Two babies (and countless diaper changes) later, she has found her home away from home as editor of SweetMama. Don’t miss her humorous bi-weekly accounts of the joys and pains of working while raising them fabulous.
Oh Tannen-bomb
silver spoons canada
(Dec.07.09)
I love Christmas. Correction: I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! I suspect that if I were raised with any other religious tradition, I would embrace it just as whole-heartedly, but let me just say that my current celebrations are a far cry from my Armenian Orthodox beginnings. What I am in love with is North American, TV-style Christmas. I want my house to look like Victor Newman's house. I want to blast Bing Crosby and Mariah Carey holiday songs from the rooftops. I want to eat turkey and stuffing and gravy for days and then pass out in front of the fire with a Bailey's coffee in one hand and a Toblerone in the other.
But it seems that no one in my family, not my husband nor my kids, loves the holidays in the same way I do. Oh sure, the kids get excited to see Santa and at the thought of gifts, but my husband can be downright Scrooge-ish at times and none of them quite get the big picture.
One of my favourite traditions that we've started since having kids is having a fresh tree. I put my mom's tree up in November for its 37th time (with Armenian Christmas on January 6th, you need a fake one to last the whole way through). But this past Friday my little family made our annual trip to Horton's Tree Farm to hand select -- and hand saw -- our very own tree (no fake pine scent needed).
Of course, I envisioned it differently than it went. Lucy fell asleep on the way and woke up cranky, insisting on being carried through the farm (she's really heavy these days). And it was the first REALLY cold day of the year here in Toronto. Instead of the magical moment of "This is our tree! It is meant to be!" it was more like, "I'm fweezing! I want to use the saw! Whine whine whine!"
Regardless, we brought home a pretty nice tree. Then came the ornaments. This is fun, I thought, although I was wincing as the kids exuberantly hung all the glass balls on the bottom half of the tree. Then Nate started to play them like they were cymbals and I had to leave the room to stop myself from ruining his fun. I also made the mistake of putting the new tree skirt on him like a cape and calling him The Great Natini -- which lead to hysterics at the mere suggestion of actually placing it on the tree.
Frustrated, I sent them up for bathtime with Dad, while I belted out Boney M and compulsively lovingly hung the ornaments we've collected over the years -- EXACTLY the way I wanted them.
What about you? Have you put up your tree yet? Do you turn a blind eye to the way everyone hangs their ornaments, or do you insist on doing it your way?
For more festive holiday content, don't miss our Stress-Free Holiday Guide, with gift and decorating ideas, recipes and more from SweetLife, SweetHome and SweetMama -- all in one place!