Jeff and I learned valuable lessons from last year in the issue pertaining to decorating our home with twin toddlers – and one of them is to accept that Christmas in a home with toddlers will always be messy.

The past two years we celebrated Christmas in the Philippines and in China. This year, we’re celebrating it here in the US of A, Jeff and Jeff Junior’s birth country and one of the twins’ homelands (they’re dual citizens).

I’m terrible at decorating any space but I’m a sucker for family events and so is Jeff so we went ahead and planned on how to decorate our little home to bring forth the Christmas spirit.

Before doing so though, here’s a list of notes that I gathered from our (Jeff and yours truly’s) discussion to ensure that nobody gets physically and emotionally hurt in our push to make this year’s Christmas celebration another significant family event to remember.

1. Elevate the tree.

Toddlers are hyperactive, crazy, and curious. They’ll touch everything. They want to see and feel. They want to experience. Take for example Exhibit A: last year’s Christmas Tree lovingly purchased by the father in one of those Chinese stores. The tree was placed on top of a table, which unfortunately was shorter than the twins’ height. I also made a stupid mistake of placing the table near the huge lounge chairs whose physics and geometry the twins have masterfully figured out. By December 9, our poor Christmas looked like a dying ornamental plant. It losts its star too. So… keep that tree elevated.

2. Way up there for decors.

Next stop: hanging decors. Hang them as high as you can. Reach for the stars, ladies. Our twins discovered the joy of jumping because of those decors. Ha! Seriously, place them up, up, up there way beyond the destructive reach of those pesky toddlers.

3. Hide the gifts.

Growing up, my mother did not impose a specific time or moment for us to open our gifts. Jeff, however, was committed to the tradition that he grew up with and that is opening presents on Christmas Day. This is now a tradition in our family. Since we want to follow that tradition, we’re hiding the gifts from them and won’t want be place them under the tree until Christmas Eve when they’re already in bed. If we don’t hide the gifts, the twins will go crazy curious and will reap and tear to shreds the colorful papers we diligently wrapped around their gifts.

4. Never forget the food.

As a Filipino, I’ve been raised to believe that all celebrations come with a great amount and variety of dishes. Christmas is not spared from this. I guess the Italians are the same. So imagine our home with a Filipino for a mother and an Italian for a father. Yep, this home overflows with food – and not just one kind. My promise is to make crispy pata or lechon belly on Christmas Eve. We will just bag the leftovers and they’ll join our long list of zombie food items inside the freezer.

5. Use non-breakable utensils

Excitement usually comes with Christmas. But in a home with toddlers, excitement comes everyday in the form of a jump or a bite. When I purchased that table and chairs where the twins have their meals, I also added plastic utensils because I don’t want them throwing plates and glasses on the ground especially when they’re upset with some things I can’t quite figure out what. So I’m still keeping the non-breakable utensils and will continue to use them on Christmas dinner.