Trimming the Tree Preschool Style

I love decorating the Christmas tree. Each ornament brings back great memories. I remember when I was growing up, my sister and I each had certain ornaments that we wanted to put on three tree. Hubby and I both have ornaments for our tree that we've had since birth. Some of our ornaments are family "treasures," passed on from our grandparents to our parents to us.
It's hard to tell four preschoolers that they need to sit still while you tell them about each special ornament. Instead, I showed them their special ornaments, which they thought was really exciting. They each have ornaments with their names, or pictures, or ornaments they made last year in preschool. They had a blast trimming the tree yesterday.
When I was little, the bottom part of the tree was for me. I was allowed to decorate it however I wanted. It may have looked like sheer randomness, but when my grandmother would visit and try to "straighten things out," I immediately knew when something was out of place. So I let my daughters have at it. This is the result.
Sure, there are spots where you can tell the tree was decorated by preschoolers, but that's the beauty of decorating the Christmas tree. A perfectly decorated tree is just no fun.
We actually managed to get through the entire process with only one broken ornament (so far). Believe it or not, the ornament jumped off the tree all by itself. No one was standing near the tree and then I heard a thud, gasps (all of us), and finally shatter. I think in my haste to get the breakables out of reach I made a major mistake. I put some of them up first, rather than last. In all the excitement and jostling the ornament fell off, hit the carpet (where it did not break) and then bounced to the wood floor where it met its inevitable fate.
One broken ornament could not ruin the day, though. The sheer joy and delight in my daughters' eyes when the tree was finished and lit up was priceless. We still have decorations to put up throughout the house and they cannot wait to see what's inside all the boxes and tubs sitting in our dining room.