Christmas Trees

We were talking about what to do with the Chistmas tree yesterday and I realized I have no clue. I want to know from those of you who have done it before - how do you put a Christmas Tree up and keep it out of the twins way?

Last year the Christmas tree was our baby sitter, they were 3 months old, we just put that thing on and they stared at it with joy... We loved it. I don't go crazy with Christmas decorations but we like to have big trees and also we hang some garland around the steps and on the mantle.

Now Max and Vanessa are 14 months, they climb and jump and pull everything. We ended up taking stuff off the book shelves and out of their reach because the word "no" still doesn't have a meaning to them, also, I don't want to keep saying "no" all day because I am afraid they will start saying it back soon enough.

So what did you do with your Christmas trees while your twins were around this age? What worked, what didn't? Do you put a gate around it? Do you tie it to something? Do you put a smaller tree on a table? I need to have an idea what to expect.

Thank you,

Monica

 

I am looking forward to what others say. My boys are almost 2 and still into everything and don't really listen to "no". I'm not sure if we should get a tree either - afraid they will pull it down.

 

That's a tough age...I remember the time between 13 and 17 months being the most difficult for me in terms of them just not listening and being into EVERYTHING. I had 5 baby gates up just on my (very, very small) main floor alone...and they were still into everything. I'm sure if Christmas had happened during this time I would have had to gate the tree off...can you do that? One of my friend put her superyard up around her tree last year and it seemed to work very well.

I'm not worried this year as they aren't as into things as they were just a few months ago...things do change quickly .

 

SuperYard gate. Wrap it aroud the tree!

 

Last year we put our small three on the dining room table. I just wanted it visible from the street (for all those who drive by looking in windows at night? What? You don't do that?? Oh...).

This year I'm putting my small tree on the bookcase in our main living area and the big tree in the addition. I thought about the superyard but I just don't have enough space for tree + superyard.

 

We just put ours up and had no issues at 11 months, almost 2, or almost 3. It really wasn't a big problem. We put the more fragile ornaments toward the top, and they wanted to help hang ornaments, but they left it alone after.

 

Last year we skipped the large tree and put a small tree up on an end table in the corner so they can't get to it, and we plan to do that again this year. Our living room and dining room is all one big room - if I had a separate room to put it in, I would have done that, but that's not an option (nor is a superyard....it's hard to explain, but if you saw our layout you would understand....).

 

Superyard here too, just like Meaghan! We also put the fragile items on top and bought smome plastic ones to fill in at the bottom.

 

We made sure that all ornaments were out of their grasp (all 3 kids) and made sure the tree was secured to the ceiling so it would not tip over, but overall we had no issues with our kids. They've had nicknames of monkey before so this did surprise us.

 

We kept ours in a separate room last year and surprisingly our kids were ok with it. They would take some of the plastic balls off the bottom and roll them around, but they never tipped it over for anything. It was hugely surprising as our kids are pretty destructive and if there is an unsafe way to go about things, they will. But, if I had to put it in a place they had access to I would definitely do the superyard.

 

I've never done it before, and I have the same fears as you. Right now we're stuck between two options.

Option 1: buy a bunch of small trees (likely those rosemary plants or something cheap), wrap the heck out of them with lights, but no ornaments, and put them throughout the house - the girls really want to see the lights.

Option 2: buy a normal tree, out it in a sturdy tree stand and keep it full of water so it won't top, and put unbreakable (maybe decorated felt) ornaments on any branch they can reach.

I'm kind of leaning toward option #1 because it think it will be cool to have a twinkly house. But it will also be the first year I didn't have a "tree."

Hmmm, maybe option #2........

 

at that age we tied it to our rail in the living room, also only decorated above where they could reach.

 

We put our tree in a separate room, made it the "Christmas room". We can open the door to that room from our living room and then see the tree but if the need arises we just shut the door. We also have our very precious creche set up on a coffee table in that room, i.e. at eye-level for the children. Last year, the creche was more interesting than the tree, maybe because the creche also gets live candles (only if DH or I are in the room obviously).
The rest of the living area is also decorated but with unbreakable ornaments.

 

Maybe give them their own tree's to play with. Small tree's they cannot break with ornaments that they cannot break but they can take on and off? Felt maybe that you can hang on the wall or the back of the door or something with felt ornaments that they can stick on and off with velcro? maybe if they have those to play with they will leave the big tree alone?

 

We also skipped the big tree last year and got a small one (about 3 feet) and put it up on a side table.

 

Oh, I hadn't even thought about the creche. My mom gave me an heirloom (from my grandma) Avon nativity set that is porcelain and super fragile - think a 6" tall Joseph with a twig thin staff. I have put it up every year since she gave it to me when I bought my first house. Now I've got to find a safe place for this. No table tops will do in our house because our monkeys have taken to swinging from any table that will support their weight (or knocking over those that don't support them). Maybe I'll have to substitute it with the Fisher Price version at their eye level instead. Hmm baby Jesus as a little person. That's kind of comical.

:smilie_xmas_116:

 

That's what we did as well! I also did things in phases, so that by the time the lights and ornaments were on it the novelty would have worn off some, which did help. So at first we just put the tree in a stand and wrapped half of an unused superyard gate around it. A couple of days later I put lights on it. A couple of days after that I added ornaments. My boys were 18 months at the time and they really didn't bother it too much, which surprised even me. Here is a picture of our pitiful small (and crooked) tree surrounded by a silly playard gate :lol: I also remember some people suggested sticking a cup hook or something similar in the wall and tying fishing line around the top of the tree to the hook to keep it from falling over. I think we will do that this year, except probably use a command hook on the wall instead of making a hole. Oh, and I also hung all of our ornaments last year by tying fishing line loops to the ornaments (instead of using the usual brass ornament hooks, which is a choking hazard).

 

We'll probably use a superyard gate as well. I'm also feeling crafty right now and I might try making a felt Christmas tree with a felt board that they can decorate and undecorate as much as they want. We'll see if I actually have the time to do it! :lol:

 

we have a 6 foot slim pine that I am gonna stick inside a pack n play! LOL!! not gonna buya superyard...too expensive

 

Our two were turning a year their first Christmas. We did not put ornaments on the bottom of the tree and took a plastic toy bin and blocked it (at that age my DD just started walking and my son was nowhere near walking)...so that worked out. The following Christmas when they were two, we just kept ornaments off of the bottom of tree and told them not to touch the tree. Oddly enough, it did work. We have a bigger problem with our 3 cats and the tree then we do the kids.