O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum how lovely are thy branches...

The boys are working hard on our lovely tree!

Last week-end Scott and Chad went to the Christmas tree lot and brought home a lovely pine scented tree which we enjoyed decorating Sunday morning.  Of course tree trimming proves that small children have no sense of or desire for order and tradition despite what numerous child psychologists would tell us.  Growing up my mother would sit on the couch and lovingly unwrap each ornament.  She would then allow us to hang them on the tree one at a time.  I vaguely recall the process lasting hours and when we were finished my father would hang a large clay Santa on the top.  Basically my boys wanted to grab as many ornaments as they could hold while dashing madly toward the tree lest anyone hang more than the other.  The joy of sibling rivalry.  But peace did prevail and it was nice to look at each ornament and tell the boys how it was procured.  Of course some were completely random but we do have a nice selection of ornaments we bought at the Swiss Christmas markets last year and a fabulous Venetian glass gondola steered by Santa Claus himself.  Our tree has no interior design inspired theme but is basically a collection of memories. 

Hug-a-tree!

Two weeks ago I signed Chad up for a flag football team.  For his benefit, both physical and social, it is time to make our foray into organized sports.  I am fortunate to have a friend with a six year old son that Chad adores.  She is kind enough to tell us about such things so that we can sign up as well.  Otherwise I am guessing Chad would not play sports until he was old enough to drive himself.  Weekly Thursday practices are conveniently located at the sports park across the street from our house and the games are Saturday afternoons which is a great time for our family.  Last Thursday at practice they scrimmaged against another team of older boys.  At one point Chad was supposed to go out for a pass but instead ran in the wrong direction toward the opposing team's goal line.  Undeterred, as the coaches are telling Chad to run the other way, the QB lobbed him a pass which he thankfully did not catch.  The whole episode was hysterical and I was reassured by the coach that we will see a lot more of that during the season.  That was definitely worth the $110 registration fee!