Santa has his own helpers and now Mommy officially has hers as well.

This past weekend was the official start to the Christmas decorating season in our household.   I am guilty of being the type of person who starts decorating even before all the Halloween candy has been handed out.   In my defense, I do have quite a few trees to put up and I really would like to enjoy them for more than just a couple of days.

Last year, I only put up two of my seven trees.   I was a working mom then with a 3 month old baby.   I had no desire to spend my two-three hours of a day I had with him on Christmas decorations.   This year, since I am a stay-at-home mom, I have the time to be able to jump back into that tradition I so look forward to every year.

While my husband was hunting, Davey and I decided to decorate the first of 6 Christmas trees (one will not be going up this year as Davey’s toys are now occupying the space once reserved for that tree).   I pulled out my Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Harry Connick Jr., Dean Martin, and Michael Buble cds, placed them in the cd player, put it on shuffle, and away we went.

I blame (or I should say thank) my mother for my over-zealot desire to decorate all things and to do it early for Christmas.    She’s always been this way.   I can remember as a child, the most exciting time of the year was the Saturday my mother decided to pull all of her decorations down out of the attic.   It was a family event.   We all worked to carry box after box into the living room, making sure to keep a walking path (which is really all the room there was) so that we could reach both sides of the room.   I was happy to help my mother, to listen to her and daddy reminisces about the ornaments that were being hung or the decorations being placed.   It was one of the many happy times of my childhood.

Davey is a mere 13 months, much too young to really comprehend the meaning of Christmas, much less my desire to make all things beautiful and festive.   He isn’t too young to explore and be fascinated, though.    And watching him look at the first Christmas tree I put up, with wonder and twinkle in his eye, brought back the warm fuzziest of my childhood.   I love this time of the year and not just for the superficial reasons but also because it is a celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior.

I can’t wait until Davey can understand the stories of my childhood that I’m telling him as I decorate the tree (he didn’t show much understanding over the weekend).   I can’t wait to tell stories of Jesus’ birth as we sit by an open fire, listening to Christmas music and eating popcorn, which is something we did as children.

Basically, I can’t wait to start new memories with my baby!