Things to Make - Christmas Tree Ornaments

Ugh, the great Christmas tree dilemma. My husband has always been one of those over-the-top lovers of the holidays, where I tended to view them somewhat more cynically (i.e. Xmas means giving people stuff they don't want and receiving stuff i don't want, despite the fact that every store and catalog seems to be full of stuff i do want). Then we had kids. And kids love Xmas and trees and lights and fat men in ugly red suits - the whole shebang. So last year we bought our first big family Xmas tree (which, consquently, was my first EVER non-artificial tree) and the girls fawned over it more than they would a puppy. I planned on purchasing another tree this year, but last week we visited my in-laws and T ATTACKED their tree. He found those shiny balls irresistible, no matter how we tried to distract him, we would turn our backs for a second and another one would be "out of the park." The sound of shattered glass became a constant. Ugh. So unfun. So what to do? Any suggestions? I suppose we could try toddler-proofing the tree, but honestly toddler-proofing the house is hard enough these days. I can't really imagine adding one more thing.

In the meantime, I'm trying to delay the tree decision through ornament making (i.e this is my attempt to show the kids that despite our complete lack of Xmas decorations, I really am a festive mom). Turns out you can buy tons of cheap, unpainted ornaments at AC Moore for under $1 (I'm sure all craft stores have them). Add in some cheap holiday paint (we bought paint similar to this, which wasn't the best of quality, but it served its purpose) and you have an art project on your hands. After the ornaments dried, the girls added soft foamy Xmas stickers for that extra wow. Now, we just need a tree. Ugh.