My favorite four-year-old assisted in the decorating of my tree Wednesday night. And that experience reminded me of what's important and what's not.

As for the nots:
Not important if two ornaments are hanging from the same branch. Not important if there's a lot of ornaments in one area and another is fairly bare. I think you get the picture.

As for what's important:
The joy in a child's eyes as she sings along with Christmas specials. The excitement she experiences when she hangs an ornament and hears "that looks great". The ability to pretend and have entire conversations with inanimate objects (or have two inanimate objects have conversations with each other). Experiencing the magic of Christmas through her.

So here's my tree, filled with valuable lessons. I hope whatever holiday you celebrate it filled with joy. For me, I'm going to have a very Merry Christmas and New Year filled with abundant blessings.