Going Green

This past week may have been both the easiest and hardest for me this year, because I had to travel to both Dallas and Palm Springs on business. It was the easiest in the sense that I didn't have to come home everyday to a pachillion things to do and take care of. But it was the hardest in the sense that I missed my family. The guilt I feel on a daily basis as a working mother was magnified a hundred fold, to say the least. No matter how much you feel you're doing the right thing for your family, the self-reproach is palpable. Kwang is an incredibly capable father, so I didn't have to worry. But it was still a lot of work for him, so I think all those fathers out there with wives as stay-at-home mothers should be very thankful! Needless to say, I also feel those wives should be grateful for the luxury they are afforded. I've never been away from the boys for even a day so there was a very distinct void. I almost felt my body twitch because a little toddler hadn't rammed into my gut in the last few minutes or someone wasn't crying "Uhmmah!" to come save him from his brother. Although these days, Jude has been mixing it up a bit and calling me "Lisa" from time to time. And Eli, being his shadow, has been doing the same… "EEESA!"

So we spent the weekend decking our halls, not with boughs of holly but with a wonderful fake Christmas tree. Call it our contribution to "going green!", the buzz phrase I hear everywhere these days. We'll be helping planet earth by saving trees for years to come for the one-time sale price of $48. The pictures are somewhat dark because I wanted to capture our fake tree in all its "pre-lit" goodness:

I'm no Martha Stewart by any stretch of the imagination, so I found it hugely challenging to decorate a tree in a somewhat decent fashion that is safe and kid-friendly for a home with boys three years old and under. Almost all the beautiful ornaments are glass which won't do when you have a one year old whose first inclination is to grab anything round and shiny and then throw it. Fortunately, I was able to find some that looked like glass as well as ornaments of the sports and transportation variety- perfect for Jude & Eli! And then I had to wrap each ornament around the branch at least three times. The whole purpose, really, is to make the holidays warm and festive for my kids as my parents did for me. So I'm really happy the boys love seeing the tree every day and playing "I spy" with the various ornaments. Here is Eli spying the choo choo train: 

Of course, his favorite is probably the football: 

And thanks to some wonderful gift cards, I got Jude and Eli stockings this year. Since I'm fairly frugal, I plan to put a whopping $1 matchbox car in each of them for Christmas. My plan is to always aim low so the boys will continually be thrilled at the smallest things. I told Kwang that I'd like the kids to grow up fully experiencing holiday cheer in the home and the necessity to take cheesy pictures by the tree. Okay, maybe not so much the latter. We'll see how long this lasts with two boys.