The tree is up. It took a while.


Why?

Because we have a toddler. And toddlers are curious.

I put the tree up in phases. First, just a tree. No lights. Nothing. I put it up when Lily was having her morning nap. I put the lights on the tree while she was still in the room, so she saw some of the process, but didn't participate. Really - she just watched. And then crawled under the tree.

This is where she learned that trees are prickly. Especially when Mommy purposely points the branches down in order to keep babies and cats from under the tree. That safety issue aside, we used LED lights, because they don't put off any heat. Then I added some non breakable plastic ornaments. She has also left them alone. Well, except for the Mommy-won't-notice-if-I-just-give-this-a-smack-as-I-toddle-by swats at the ones at her level.





Just to be safe, we used bungee cord to attach the tree to the wall. Lily is learning to use say uh-oh, and the last thing I want to hear is a giant crash and





Uh Oh!





We are not going to tempt fate by leaving wrapped presents under the tree.