Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Works For Me Wednesday -- A Christmas Edition


Yes, friends ... I have yet another Works For Me Wednesday tip!

In all fairness, I haven't done this yet... but I will be doing it for the first time this year. You see ... by the time we put up our Christmas tree, my son will be about 14 months old... and frankly, he is ALL BOY, and LOVES to get into E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. So much so, that he has bumps and bruises all over his precious face from having fallen from places he shouldn't have been.

So, this past weekend, when my very-trendy-church-friend asked if we were going to put up a Christmas tree this year, and laughed and said, "good luck with that!" when I told her that I was planning on having a tree ... My mind started whirring with images of my son buried under the Christmas tree that he pulled onto himself. Or worse... covered with glass shards from broken ornaments. And, if I squeeze my eyes real tight, I can even imagine him at the TOP of the tree after having found (and then climbed up) the very limbs that are strong enough to hold a 25-pound child on our tree! These are NOT visions of sugar-plums dancing in my head!

So, having said (or rather, thought) that... I began to plan how I would safely decorate said tree, so that my son will not be rushed to the emergency room numerous times during the Christmas season.

So ... here's my Works For Me Wednesday Christmas Tip -- This year, I will decorate my tree with white lights, ribbons/bows, and:

- edible and safe garland (popcorn, cranberries, candy necklaces)
- some paper or yarn (hardened with glue) snowflakes
- candy canes
- dehydrated apple and orange slices
- candy ornaments (marshmallow snowmen, gum drops on ribbons, etc.)
- large colorful pom poms suspended by ribbons
- gingerbread and sugar cookie ornaments


Hopefully, my tree will look somewhat decent. It won't be all glittery, but it will be safe in the event of an accidental "tippage" or "tasteage" by a very curious child.

If you have any Christmas tips you'd like to share, or want to learn some new tricks, head on over to Rocks in my Dryer and sign in on the Mister Linky she's provided!!!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you! I think it's a great idea. Our tips this week are similar - mine's about kids and trees as well.

Jennifer said...

Good thinking! We have an artificial tree (due to allergies) that can hold no amount of weight, so I think I'm going to decorate the top half normally and use some of your ideas for the bottom half. Thanks for sharing, GiBee!!

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the christmas tree and it sounds like a good idea. He does sound like a boy who is learning and trying every thing out to see if it is little boy save......

Donnetta said...

Great idea! I'm sure it will be absolutely LOVELY and FUN all at the same time! Share a pic of the finished project if you think of it!

Anonymous said...

Wow, Faith (she's 3) would go nuts with a tree like that. :-) That's cute idea.

Bubba (he's 9 months) is nothing but an adorable bundle of trouble and I dread putting that tree up. He's into everything. When Faith was a baby, I only had to tell her no once and she listened. Not Bubba (there goes all my parenting skills I thought I had)

I came over here to tell you I loved your tip you left in my comments about the xmas shopping list you keep in your purse. I added that to my blog entry. I would love to see a picture of that, or better yet, could you email the file? --only if you have time though.

My email is thewoodenporch@yahoo.com

thanks! Lani

Anonymous said...

The trees in your pictures are beautiful!

Tracy

Anonymous said...

What a great idea. We have discoverd that our 19 month old is a climber. I hadn't considered what to do with our tree this year. Our 3 year was never like that. Thanks for the great tip.

Anonymous said...

I went out and bought all plastic ornaments for the lower half of our tree last year and then surrounded it with one of those Superyards. Only time we ever used that Superyard. Both kids hated that thing. Good luck, hopefully after it's up for a few days, he'll lose interest:D

Nancy said...

Aren't you the creative one... or is it the mother of necessity? Either way, kudo's to you and Merry Christmas!

Rae said...

Great idea, thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

the best idea I ever saw was putting the christmas tree into a playpen so the little one couldnt get at it too much
thinking of putting mine up on the table this year

Theresa said...

GiBee, I'm not sure that's a good idea! I think it's going to lure him even more to climb the tree once he sees all the candy and popcorn up there! ;)

P.S. My girlfriend last year put her tree up on a table (about 4-5 feet) and covered the table with a table cloth that hung to floor to hide the area. It worked really well!

Good luck either way, we'll be battling the same issue as you thise year, with my ever.so.busy. 20 month old!

mamashine said...

My family put the tree in the playpen the year my sister was that age. It keeps the presents safe along with the tree. No early unwrapping. That's a bonus.