We got home around 8 PM on Friday night. Saturday we went to my mom's (she remarried while I was in NYC!). We went to visit because it was Oz's birthday. Her husband's real name isn't "Oz", but that is what my kids call him. It's a Wizard of Oz thing that Carlie came up with.....I know....imagine that!
Speaking of Carlie....
We put up our Christmas tree yesterday. Carlie gets more than a little excited about Christmas ornaments. She comes by it naturally. I LOVE them. Which is all the more reason why I cringe when she begins opening the boxes of them.
I wasn't even finished putting up the tree in the living room. We weren't even ready for ornaments. But there she was....fishing through the boxes and tissue paper. I asked her to please, please, please leave them alone until we were ready. Once we were ready I would unwrap them all for her and Cam and let them hang them on the tree.....just like every year. So, begrudgingly, she backed away.
For about three and a half minutes.
I was on the step stool finishing up the top of the tree. And I could hear her digging through the box. She was in the box of "Trip/Sentimental" ornaments.
**sidebar**We usually put up two trees. One is full of ornaments that we get when we go on a trip. Ever since Britt and I took our first vacation together, to the beach in 1998, we have bought atleast one Christmas ornament. After 12 years, we have enough to fill a tree. But on this tree we also put "Baby's first Christmas 2000" and ornaments the kids made. The other tree is a total Disney tree.......I know......I'm still looking for a support group.
So the box that Carlie was digging in was full of things I would rather not be broken. Mostly irreplaceable ones. I heard her say "Hey! Here's the one Nanny painted of our house!!" followed by "The hook is not..................." *crash*
I knew which one it was before I even looked down at the shattered pieces on the hardwood floor. I looked at Carlie, whose face was a mixture of fear and sadness. I started crying and said "Go get the broom." I didn't yell. But I was screaming on the inside! I told her I knew it was an accident, but had she obeyed the ornament wouldn't be broken. She was as upset as I was. Almost.
We finally got to the ornament hanging part. Cam picked up one of 3 snowmen that read "Christmas 2001 Britt, Courtney, and Cameron". Carlie looked at it and said "I shoulda been on that one!" Cam replied "You weren't even thought of." to which Carlie insisted "Yes I was! God thought of me! He already knew that I was a pistol little girl who loves adventure!"
I laughed so hard I cried!!! That may be the truest statement ever spoken about Carlie! The girl knows who she is!!
After we finished the tree in the den, the kids wanted to put their trees up in their bedrooms. They went to Cam's room with his tree and a box of ornaments that I had approved for them to share. They got his tree put together without incident.
Then they moved to Carlie's room. She strung her hot pink lights first. Then started adding ornaments. One of which was a homeade little number she had made at Nanny's last year. It was a clear bulb that she squirted paint into and shook. The idea is to make it look tye dyed. But she only used hot pink. Apparently, she used A LOT of hot pink. So much, that it did not dry in 365 days. She hung it on her tree, but not very well. It fell off, hit her vanity that the tree was setting on, and shattered, splattering hot pink paint all over the cream colored carpet in her bedroom!! Being a good big brother, Cam was going to help her clean it up "so she didn't have to tell mom". After rubbing it a couple of times Cameron realized that it was smearing! So he yelled for me, and I yelled for an hour. Fortunately, it was acrylic craft paint. So after pouring about a gallon of water into the carpet I got it all up.
Isn't Christmas decorating fun?
PS- I'm editing NYC pics today. All 640 of them! I hope to have some on the blog soon!
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1 comment:
Cammy broke two ornaments on Saturday herself. She was told to stay out of the box, and we would hand her an ornament to hang up, but she didn't listen and dropped one ball into the box and broke it. Then I walked into the kitchen and caught her playing with a tiny nutcracker ornament and when she saw me, she tossed it back into the box and it landed on a Coca-Cola ball and shattered it. Thankfully neither one of them were sentimental/irreplaceable ones.
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