Putting up Our Tee Tee Tee!

 We went and got a Christmas tree this year with one thing in mind - it has to be soft enough for our babygirl!  So many trees feels like actual needles every time you touch a branch, and we did not want her to be afraid of the tree.  Or worse, minding her own business and getting stabbed in the foot by a needle and not knowing what happened, which tends to happen with the sharp trees.  Only good memories associated with our tree!  So we brought it home, and took a picture after Daddy put it up, and Reilly was sleeeeeepy!

The next night, we got to decorating!  Reilly went from enthralled, to ecstatic, to beyond obsessed with Christmas trees in a very short period of time.   It started when I tested each strand of lights before putting them on.  We counted down, then plugged them in.  She gasped and said "PRETTY!!!" every time I lit up a strand.  Then cried when I had to unplug them, and followed me around the Christmas tree as I strung them around saying "Pretty? Pretty? Pretty?"  This continued until I rapidly finished the lights.  Then we had another countdown, and the big reveal of the lit-up Tee Tee Tee (that's how she says it).

 She was instantly in love!

 Then she started laughing in pure joy.

 Santa's Little Helper!  Little did she know, the funnest part was ahead of her.  I always love decorating our Christmas tree, and it's always a special tradition.  Well, God gave Reilly to the perfect family.  It was as if her sole purpose in life so far was to put ornaments on a Christmas tree, and she was finally given the opportunity to fulfill her calling.

 We started with soft ornaments, thinking she would only stay interested a little while.  Well, she was obsessed, and a good 40 ornaments later, Hubby was holding ornaments up saying "Could she ruin this one?"  to which I'd usually respond, "I don't think so?" and before we knew it, she literally did the entire bottom half of the tree!

She never ever wanted to stop decorating the tree.   She would toddle over the box, ask Daddy, "One mo'." and then wait while he gave her one.  She would then scamper back to the tree and figured out how to put it on the branch.

 After it was decorated, and there were no more ornaments that weren't extremely breakable, we told Reilly we were all done and celebrated what a great job she did.  And then she cried.  She was so sad.  We felt so bad, and began silently panicking and exchanging "Oh my God, what do we do now?" faces. 

So I said, "BUT REILLY, GUESS WHAT!  Now....it's time for...", she stared at me in anticipation, as I thought of how to make our Christmas tree decorating non-traumatic.  Then it came to me. "MILK AND COOKIES!!!"

And this, a new tradition is born in our home.  Decorate the tree, and then sit around it and have milk and cookies.  Suffice it to say, it was a highlight of her life.

 Look how serious our little angel was about her job!

After her love of decorating, we were a little nervous that she would want to constantly take off the ornaments and put them back on.  So the next morning, we used words like "Careful!" and "Pretty!".  So she went over, and ever so gently, began kissing and hugging the ornaments.  Then she pets them and says, "Niiiice," which is what we say doggies and babies to be gentle.  It is precious and hilarious, and I wouldn't have expected anything else from our little lover.

Now it's our morning ritual - counting down, lighting the tree, kisses, hugs.   We also have garland lit up in various places around the house, and she runs over in the morning insisting I turn on those Tee Tee Tees as well.

Wait till she sees what is under the tree in a few short weeks!! I can't wait!!