Do you find some things difficult to deal with during the holidays? You know, things like little babies and small children ending up inside the Christmas tree, or beautiful presents being prematurely unwrapped.

Since 1977, there have been little ones in my life–first my own babies, and now grandchildren. There were two things that were always a struggle for me during the holiday season–how to keep the little ones from grabbing the special ornaments off the Christmas tree and where to put a nativity scene? Well, here is how I’ve dealt with these issues over the years.

I’ve accumulated many special ornaments over the years and I used to be afraid that my treasures would end up broken if they were too close to the bottom of the tree. While putting them up high enough so little fingers couldn’t reach them, was an option, I decided to do something different.

I bought two trees! One for the whole family, to display our treasures, and one for the little children. I purchased a small four feet tree, placed it next to the family tree, strung some lights on it, and then put ornaments that were unbreakable on it. These were ones like fabric ornaments, plastic, and ones they made at home and church.

This would allow my children to play and redecorate their  own little tree whenever they wanted. Nobody told them, “Don’t touch,” or “Leave that alone.” We did teach them to leave the ornaments on the big tree alone. Whenever we noticed they were tempted to bother the decorations on the big tree, we redirected them to their own tree. This worked beautifully for us until the children became old enough to graduate to the “big tree.” To this day, our two youngest children still enjoy decorating their own little Christmas tree in each of their bedrooms.

The other thing I did was to purchase a nativity set that was kid friendly. Nowadays, there are many that are  made of resin, wood, and even plastic. Ones like those designed by Fisher Price allow children to enjoy learning the story of Christmas without you worrying about Jesus losing his head! To this day, I place the resin nativity scene in the wooden stable, under the edge of the Christmas tree on the floor. Then I place my Willow Tree nativity scene in a place where little ones are not tempted to bother it.

By taking the time to think through a few of the important issues such as presents, trees, and ornaments, the holiday season can be much more enjoyable and relaxing for everyone–especially you!