Next on their list of things to break: my Christmas spirit

Last night Larry and I were lovingly tucking Natalie into bed (reality=taking away reading time and threatening that Santa wasn't coming at all if she didn't get her little butt into bed NOW) when she made a confession. She had taken another ornament off of the Christmas tree and accidentally broke it.

A little back story here. I feel that I'm a pretty sympathetic mother, and because of that I know how tempting it is to play with the Christmas decorations. I mean, come on, they are like little toys that come out once a year for the sole purpose of mocking kids whose Mom's are all, "DON'T TOUCH THAT OR I'M CANCELLING CHRISTMAS!" So since I have had kids I have made sure there are an ample amount of Christmas things that are specifically out to be played with. They have a basket full of books, stuffed animals, and real grown up decorations that cannot be broken. They also have a small tree with ornaments that are all kid friendly. They can decorate their tree or their room or themselves to their hearts content....with THEIR OWN STUFF! Every year when the boxes come up from the basement we talk about how they have their own decorations, so leave the rest alone!

This year I put up their tree and gave them their ornaments, which they promptly broke in as many ways as possible. Things that would survive a nuclear bomb have been reduced to random pieces of red and green plastic scattered throughout the house (try getting up in the middle of the night and finding Pooh's decapitated head smiling at you from inside the refrigerator door. That kind of discovery will mess you up for life). So after the girls were tired of destroying their own stuff they, of course, moved onto mine. I am up to a grand total of seven broken ornaments. And we still have a couple of weeks until Christmas! Last nights victim was an elf holding a banner that says Natalie. I was informed that one tiny green leg is somewhere in the bottom of the toy box. Let me just say, we really should buy some stock in super glue the way we've been going through it.

Natalie reluctantly handed over the little legless elf and I placed her on the "shelf of broken ornaments". It is possibly the saddest Christmas sight ever. There is a piglet without an ear, a cheerleader without pom-poms, an angel without her hands, a snowman without his snowflake (if you know what I mean..wink wink!), and now a poor little smiling elf without a limb.

Natalie was assuring us that is was an ACCIDENT! REALLY!! DIDN'T MEAN TO!! That would be well and good if it weren't for the fact that this kind of "accident" happens daily, usually right after I tell them to leave the tree alone or I'm taking it down. We had the talk again and she promised not to touch anymore ornaments. I'm guessing we will be adding to the shelf sooner rather than later.