Tree Trimming

Tom helped us set up the tree this year. He loves to get into everything! Christmas gets more fun every year as he understands and participates more.

It is very important to hang all over the adults as they put up the tree. This is a key point of Tom's tree trimming philosophy.

Here Tom is helping me pick out the ornaments. We have way too many ornaments for our small tree but I buy more every year. I can't help myself. We always look for ornaments with texture for Tom to enjoy. He had a great time feeling all the ornaments as they were going up. They make so many nice unbreakable ornaments now that you don't have to sacrifice beauty for safety.

Yes, Santa got munched.

Can you see the Braille label on this ornament? I just used our hand-held Braille labeler to add his name to this ornament. The labeler has print and Braille so you don't have to already know Braille to use it. In fact, using the Braille labeler really helped me to learn the Braille alphabet. I have Braille labels on tons of items around our house and on Tom's toys.

Why is this important?

Because sighted children see print everywhere long before they can read and blind children should have the same experience. It helps them understand that words (in this case, Braille words) have meaning.  It is an easy thing to do and a Braille labeler is only costs between $20-$30. I have been using mine for about two years and it works great.

Also, I grew up with a ton of personalized ornaments and I want Tom to have the same experience.

Hope your Holidays are off to a good start!