Christmas in the barn

before

after


So as you can imagine, when every square inch is assessed and accounted for in a 3 room apartment-it makes it difficult to justify taking up some of that space with a tree that would most likely get mangled anyways by a ferocious cat (who I'm suspecting has ADHD... do you think they have a cat approved ritalin? I'll have to run that one by my friend Tracy).
There are just some traditions that JUST have to be kept. Ornaments are one of those.
Every year the kids get a new ornament. It started the first time we celebrated Christmas with both kids. A friend of mine made two beautiful ornaments, each bearing the name of each child. And a tradition was born. We now have butterflies, mermaids, Red Sox, airplanes, ducks, handpainted Iris flowers and Sage plants, Matryoshka Dolls, angels, trains, a pickle and this year they will each receive an ornament from one of our favorite stores in town that only carries products that are fair trade, and ecologically sustainable. (and local!). I love this. I love that we're building a collection that they can someday take with them, I love that even though everything else has changed, and our holiday is being totally re-worked because of our circumstances, THIS is the same.
This year, we're finding all those things that matter. This year, we're keeping things alive and exciting. This year we're putting up twinkling lights and all those special ornaments in a completely different way. But hopefully this year- the children will still feel the same magic that they've always felt ... no matter where we are or who we're with or how this life has changed. The ornament tradition will live on.