Lessons from a Fallen Tree

Our first Christmas together as a family was spent with our babies in the NICU. Our second Christmas, we were just happy to make it to our church’s Christmas service on time with our triplets in tow! So, last year (our third Christmas), my husband decided that it was finally time to celebrate Christmas in our house.

My husband (with little or no help from me) got the tree up & decorated the house as well. His enthusiasm was infectious & eventually the skeptic in me (that thought the kids were too young for a tree) was silenced. End of the day, the tree was up – decked with ornaments and lights.

Fast forward to the following evening. The sons were really excited about the tree and the lights and in a sudden surge of energy, thought it would be a grand idea to tug the tree a little bit. Needless to say, a little tug by rambunctious 3-year old triplets brought the tree crashing down, lights and all!

A hundred thoughts ran through my mind – and I am ashamed to admit, the most prominent one was that maybe we shouldn’t have put the tree up at all :(. I admonished the sons and sent them to their room to await Dad’s arrival. Dada dearest of course had no hard feelings save a stern warning to the sons. He proceeded to put the tree up again and tied it securely to the nearest entertainment center/bookshelf.

We learnt a lot of things from the “Fallen Tree” incident (atleast I did). Here’s what we did differently this year!

• I made an effort to have a positive attitude (even if the sons were to bring the tree down again!).
• We found an online family friendly radio station that provided background Christmas music for our decorating session.
• We got our sons to help decorate the tree. They were only too happy to help!
• We seized every opportunity to remind the boys that Christmas is a celebration of Jesus’ birthday.

Its been 3 days, and the tree is still standing – although once in a while we do find a son sneaking off with an ornament or two :D. Will it stay upright until tomorrow? I really can’t say… But even if it doesn’t, we’ll still savor the memory of decorating the house together as a family this Christmas.

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