a little ugly goes a long way

if you're somewhat of a control freak, there's always a little hesitation when it comes to putting your children's homemade ornaments on the tree. not all of them, but most of them. i am all for sentimentality. as a matter of fact, one of the most hideous ornaments i own is an evergreen "fossil" i made in PRESCHOOL. it's the size of a small frisbee, weighs as much as a small dog, and is the color of navajo clay. but i love it because of what it represents. it's a piece of my childhood, fossilized.

that said, i love the fact that my children bring home handmade ornaments. but sometimes, they are just really ugly. i usually try to hang them towards the back of the tree, but i realized this could be insulting to my children. i certainly wouldn't want to sacrifice their self-esteem for my tannenbaum vanity. this year, as i started decorating the tree, i found myself putting the homemade ornaments back in the bag everytime i unpacked one. finally, one of my perceptive children noticed, and called me on it. "mom, why are you hiding all of our ornaments that we made?"

i had a brief deer-in-the-headlights moment, followed by what i consider to be my own personal festivus miracle. it was like the heavens opened, a ray of light shone down upon my head, heavenly choirs sang, and a stroke of genius blessed my twisted mind. i replied, "honey, mommy is not hiding your ornaments! mommy is SAVING them! this year, we are having a CHILDREN'S TREE! this is a special tree mommy is getting so that we can show off all your special ornaments. you can even decorate it all by yourselves! mommy won't tell you where to hang a single one!"

i think there was some kind of cheering. it was hard to hear over the angels' singing. i sent skip out to the garage to find me the singing mini-tree (note: it was still in the garage for a reason. i insisted we leave the cord out there, making it a non-singing mini tree). and here it is, folks. the non-singing-mini-children's tree.
the kids loved the independent decorating, my control issues were assuaged, and everyone is really happy. i think it looks beautiful.