Christmas Tree Decorating Tell me I am no the only one.

[luvnmy2bys]

I know I can't be the only perfectionist on here. So ease my conscious and tell me I am not the only one who "fixes" the tree after the kids are in bed. Our tradition includes the kids hanging the ornaments on the tree each year. After the kids are in bed I redistribute the ornaments for a more uniform look. This was the first year my 10 year noticed. He asked me this morning why his Buzz Lightyear ornament was in a different place. I felt so guilty. My husband says I am just a control freak and should just leave the tree as the kids decorate it, but I can't.
luvnmy2bys

 

[PixieDust32]

Nop! I leave it the way they decorated it.

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

DH & I are both that way too-we have to be the ones to decorate the tree. I usually do it, but the last 2 years he's done it. He did it this year and I watched and DD4 wanted to help so I actually pointed out where she needed to put the ornaments and she was so doggone happy, she was jumping up & down. Made me feel bad for not just letting her enjoy the tree & putting them where she wanted (like my mom used to do for me when I was a kid, back when I was normal).

Btw, just a minute ago, before he went to bed, I caught DH in the living room with the tree lights on admiring his handiwork. He was kind of embarrassed that I saw him! Of course I had to tease him, but our tree (I have to admit) looks very close to perfect. Oh, yeah, controlling, over acheiving nuts, we were made for each other, the two of us!!

 

[JennaTX]

This was my first year of having this happen since DD is 6. She placed all ornaments that she loved in one section of the tree. I bit my lips and did not say anything, after the kids were in bed, I changed it around so it would look nice.

I may be a perfectionist, but the kids had a great time decorating the tree without mom saying anything, and the next day they never noticed that I moved anything!

 

[JohnsPrincess]

Lol - My 11 year old step-son lived with us last year. For Christmas the three of us decorated the tree. I tried SO hard to let him place things where he wanted...but still found myself doing a bit of...directing... "Hey - that areas is looking bare...why don't you add some there", etc. Thought I was just a weirdo - glad I'm not the only one!

 

[olena]

My Mom was like that. Us kids would get into it with her about tree decorating. She would fix the tree after we decorated and sometimes barred favorite ornaments for clashing with a theme. Some years it was apples or tassels. Yuck. We quit arguing with her and let her do it by herself. In high school, I just got a small tree for my room and put up my stuff in there. Nowadays, I don't even care anymore. I haven't put up a tree since 2001, especially since we're always spending December elsewhere.

 

[minkydog]

No, I pretty much let them decorate the tree anyway they want. When they were little I "helped" because they couldn't reach very high and all the ornaments were clustered 3 ft from the floor. The clumps of icicles had to get straightened out, too. But they have their own little traditions now and certain ornaments go on in a definite order (Marley's Ghost Goofy is always first!) My only request is that my breakable angels go up high so they don't get knocked off by King Kong(DS10) or the dog.

Cathy--mom to John(19), Eleni(12), and Christian(10)

 

[ilovepcot]

Allow kids to help decorate MY Christmas tree????? Actually there are none at home any longer, but if there were I'd certainly include them in the fun, and like some of you, redo things a bit after they were asleep. As it is, I have to "redo" after DH is asleep!

 

[DMRick]

My grands decorate my tree, and finally last year, they got old enough to realize all the ornaments shouldn't be on the bottom. Nope, I never "fixed" it. My heart swelled everytime I looked at it.

When my kids were younger and they decorated, my oldest always had to have the ducks lined up straight, so she kept the rest of them in line as far as distributing everything evenly. She prob got up in the middle of the night to "fix" it .
PS I think it's inherited. When my grand was just a babe, she used to make sure our shoes were lined up "properly" on the rug near the back door. I have no doubt that her mother (my daughter) taught her that.

 

[Brianne]

My kids don't hang them on the tree. We have a system where one will get the box the ornament's in, another will remove it, yet another will hang onto it until their dad hangs it on the tree. A lot of the ornaments aren't cheap or replaceable (Hallmark), so they know I won't even hang them in fear of dropping one. They're ok with it! I think as long as everyone's happy, it doesn't matter how it goes.

 

[delilah]

My son pretty much put all the ornaments on the tree the way he wanted. I don't change them, because, later on the cats will rearrange them, and all the ornaments will end up about 4 ft off the ground--too high for kitties to reach.

 

[aprilgail2]

I would never rearrange them after my daughter worked so hard putting them up with me...one year there were 6 on one branch but I would not move them, that is how she liked it, so it was fine with me...this year she spread them out nicely..she is really careful and my tree is mainly glass disney ornaments and precious moments ornaments...if she dropped one it would not be replaceable but my time spent decorating the tree with her while she is young is more important to me. I have more trouble with the dumb dog taking them off and breaking them LOL!! Last year the stupid dog took off a glass ornament and was sitting there chewing the broken glass!

 

[Nite0wl71]

I always hang up certain ornaments and the kids would hang the rest. I didn't really change much just move a couple and some would even be mine that I hung up. Now only one is at home and it takes much longer to decorate.

 

[kaylajr]

We leave it as they decorate it
i wouldn't want to hurt there feelings by having moved it all around
besides it is there tree to and they rearrange some ornaments all season

 

[slo]

My upstairs tree I decorate by myself.

The downstairs tree I let my DD put all the "fun" ornaments on by herself and then I do rearrange some because she can only put them at her level. So I do move some higher and she doesn't seem to care and then I put on the ornaments that could break.

 

[NMAmy]

I've never rearranged the ornaments that dd has placed on the tree. We were talking about this the other day--when she was little, I bought a bunch of unbreakable ornaments for the bottom of the tree and they were all hers to do with as she would. She'd spend most of her time taking them OFF the tree and putting them in a basket so each night I'd put them back on so she could do it again in the morning.

I've always hung ornaments that were precious to me up high (and even though she's 15 now, I still do it.) I have one that my dad made me when I was little and some others that my grandparents gave me. The rest are all fair game and she can hang them wherever she wants.

I've always thought that trees decorated by kids--with homemade ornaments and big bunches of ornaments in one spot--just look homier than a perfect tree. I hope I never have a perfect tree because it means I won't have any little ones helping me with the decorating.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I know I can't be the only perfectionist on here. So ease my conscious and tell me I am not the only one who "fixes" the tree after the kids are in bed. Our tradition includes the kids hanging the ornaments on the tree each year. After the kids are in bed I redistribute the ornaments for a more uniform look. This was the first year my 10 year noticed. He asked me this morning why his Buzz Lightyear ornament was in a different place. I felt so guilty. My husband says I am just a control freak and should just leave the tree as the kids decorate it, but I can't.
luvnmy2bys

Please don't do this. I am a child of a mom who did this. It really hurts your feelings. When they are decorating, help them and put those up high. After all it is the family Christmas tree not only yours.

 

[crazydingoman]

your practically perfect...in every way!
practically perfect thats your forte!

 

[Disney Doll]

I would imagine that a child will remember the fun and tradition of being able to help decorate the tree rather than being able to say "Our Christmas tree was perfect every year".

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

I figured out a solution to our situation. I found an old artificial tree that I had in our tiny apartment years ago when we first got married. I drug it out of storage and presented it to my kids-made a whole big too do about it. Then I gave them some ornaments and stuff and let them have at it. It's in my daughter's room. They even put lights on it. They had so much fun-it's all theirs and they did it themselves. And we have our own tree too. It worked out pretty good.