Bridge Family Tree Decoration Party

I am a traditionalist. I like traditions because they give order to events and help me to know what to expect from a holiday. I also love the nostalgia associated with carrying out a tradition, no matter how small or how corny. For example, to this day, my siblings line up on our stairway from youngest to oldest while we await the go sign for us to go see what Santa left us. I know that it's silly, but it's important to uphold these little rituals. One such tradition that our family has is the decoration of the Christmas tree. When I was a child, we'd always put on Christmas music and make a big deal out of the event. It's been a few years since I decorated a tree at my parent's house because I've been busy with my own tree. This year, though, we were there for tree decorating. I think I surprised my mom when I invited all my sisters and their significant others to come and decorate with us. We made a real party of it! It was so much fun.
Grammy and Tristan look ready to decorate that tree! I couldn't get over how many meatballs that Maura can eat, or how cute her haircut is!
Aunt Emily and Brad came for dinner and enjoyed some fun times with Tristan. He has the best laugh and he loves it when you try to eat his hands. Aunt Lorie and Tristan. I can't believe it, but my baby is wearing twelve month sleepers.
We combined tree decorating with cookie decorating. Brad helped Maura roll out the dough and cut out sugar cookies. Oh, boy, was my girl excited to decorate that tree! She was dancing around the room and waiting to start the decorating with very little patience! She loves to decorate, but somehow all her ornaments always end up being hung in a little cluster.

I love these moments when we get to share traditions together. Someday she'll look back on these moments with the same fond memories I have of my childhood.

Way to go, Aunt Katie. She "fixed" an ornament and managed to glue her fingers together!

Maura loved all Grammy's ornaments, each of which is special in some way. Even Brad got in on the tree decorating action. I like a man who can decorate a tree!

Emily loves tree decorating as much as I do and I think she was glad we made a big deal of it and held it on a night she could be there. After we finished the tree, we all gathered around the table to decorate the cookies. I remember doing this as a child too, with all my siblings there. I can't even imagine how huge of a mess we all made. Everyone helped decorate and sang and danced to Christmas music. My sister wouldn't allow me to post the video of the dancing, but it was pretty funny! Maura danced so hard that she fell off the chair onto the floor and then looked at me with such surprise that the whole family erupted into laughter. After she figured out she wasn't hurt, she laughed too, until she had tears in her eyes!

I loved helping Maura get her cookies just right, just in time for them to disappear into her mouth. That evening wasn't the end of cookie baking and decorating for us. We kept at it all week and got most of Mom's Christmas cookies made. We also consumed a lot too! One evening, Grammy helped Maura make Gingerbread men.

She loved decorating them with candy, but I think she would have been just as happy to skip the decorating and just eat the candy! What fun! I can't wait to see what traditions take root in my own family and become important to us for years to come.

The finished product. Maura was so proud.

She was also SOOOO hungry! That's the end of that fine Gingerbread man!!