Becoming a 2 Tree Family - By Trish Berg

I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to decorating our Christmas tree. When my kiddos were little, I used to let them put the ornament son, and then I woudl stay up well past midnight re-decorating the tree. I just could not live with the ornaments placed on in clumps and groups. I wanted it to look perfect.

I am not justifying my perfectionism, I may have scarre dmy kids for life. But now that they are tweens and teens, they do decorate the tree themselves and I no longer stay up well past my bedtime to re-decorate it.

I think they have just adapted to my way of decorating the tree.

But kids also need freedom, and so we began a new tradition about ten years ago.

We put an artificial tree in our family room, and that is the one we decorate well. Little white lights, even garland and perfectly placed ornaments. The one that satisfies the perfectionist in me.

Then we get a 2nd tree, a live tree, and put that one in our kitchen. We cal it our "kitchen tree." That tree has colored lights on it, strung popcorn, and only homemade ornaments hung wherever the kdis want to hang them. It is a "keep your hands off mom" tree, and it is just beautiful.

All December long, the kids add strung popcorn, beads, cut out paper ornaments. Whatever they make they hang on our kitchen tree.

So relax, mom. Let go of your standards, and let your kids have some fun. Get a 2nd tree, and make it theirs.