I am the first to admit that Martha Stewart I am not. Making large dinners is not my thing. Actually, making any dinner is not really my thing. My husband cooks for himself and I cook for myself (that is what happens when one of us is carnivore and the other a veg head). My husband does his laundry and I do mine. We split meals for our little one and also split laundry duty for daily wardrobe changes. However, one domestic task I have always enjoyed is decorating for the holidays.
I think the love of decorating the house was passed on by my Mom (who also enjoys cooking, cleaning and laundry so I’m not quite sure why the decorating bug stuck with me). She was the queen of window stickies and we would decorate our sliding glass and front door with new designs every month. She also had a small decorative tree that she kept out year round. We would decorate it for all of the major holidays including Valentine’s Day, St. Patty’s Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. It was so much fun for us growing up, but I now realize how much work that must have been!
I don’t have stickies for every month nor do I have a year round tree that stays up, but boy do I have a lot of Halloween decorations. Many of my decorations, I inherited from my Grandma when she passed a few years ago. She loved Halloween. In fact, her and my Grandfather married on Halloween. I’ve absorbed the love of the holiday from her and that day also marks my hubby’s birthday so we normally go all out. Three foot tall witches and scarecrows, dancing skeletons, pumpkin string lights, blinged out Jack-O-Lanterns, and cauldrons typically fill our house from October 1st through November 1st. However, this year, I am thinking about not decorating for the first time since I’ve been married.
My favorite little boy is now 14 months old and minutes away from walking. The thought of giving him so many extra opportunities and objects to get into (and for us to clean up) sounds about as appealing to me as making Thanksgiving dinner. I also don’t know if all of these props, which are life sized to him, will scare the daylights out of him. Plus, are they choking hazards? I hadn’t even thought about choking hazards!
I know there is a school of thought out there that as parents, you should keep doing what you always have done, tell your little ones no, and ensure that they will listen to you. I’m just not sure if I subscribe to that school of thought. I think my belief is more along the lines of avoiding melt downs and toddler tantrum traps if at all possible. Just like I know that bringing my little dude on an afternoon shopping trip at nap time is not going to go well, I think it might be a smart idea to sit out on the decorating fun this year.
Before becoming a Mom, these were not the things I pondered. I knew that the most important part of being a parent is to raise a happy, healthy and independent adult, but that is big picture. The devil is surely in the details and I never realized that the option of decorating the house vs. not decorating is a big decision with the possibility of equally big consequences.
So now I have to know (so I can judge myself against you J) – did you/do you change the way you decorate for the holidays to accommodate your one year old?
About Tena
Tena and her best friend (and hubby) had their first child in July, 2011. Their little guy has a congenital heart defect and he is one tough little cookie; don’t ever think about calling him sick though – “his plumbing is just different.” Tena is an animal loving vegetarian and is excited to teach her son about compassion and the importance of volunteer work. She secretly hopes her son will be left handed like his momma. She is the Online Marketing Director for Step2.
