For anyone who is paying attention to the 'rules' (ok, my rules), it is now officially ok to decorate for Christmas. We are passed Halloween and Thanksgiving.
I have to say it. No rushing the holidays, folks. To me that means prior to this weekend - NO Christmas stuff in the stores, no Christmas music on my favorite radio station, no Christmas themed TV commercials, and no decorating anything until after the turkey left overs are history! And yet, the exact opposite happens every year.
Obviously I need to get these rules published somewhere!!
This year was especially frustrating. My favorite radio station began playing 24/7 Christmas music 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. Really, folks. Is anyone really going to want to listen to Christmas music for 6 weeks?? Isn't that a method of torture somewhere in the world? I have switched stations.
Several years ago I made several changes to our holiday rituals. I stopped sending greeting cards and yearly newsletters. Lordy that took a lot of time. I stopped making dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies. I had enough inches on my hips. I stopped decorating the house like a Trim-a-Tree shop! Two years ago I downsized all my Christmas decorations. Moving was in our sights and some items hadn't been displayed in years. Those changes made a BIG difference in the quality of my life around this time of year.
I kept a few traditions - Family Christmas Evening celebration with dinner and gift giving is the center piece of my holiday. The family sleeps over and stays for Christmas morning breakfast. I still decorate a tree but I may downsize the size of the tree in a year or two. This year I added back in a few more house decorations - just a few - and for the first time ever, my daughter and I put lights up outside. My deck is now festive. Nothing fancy, but fun to look at. And we host a Christmas party for friends the weekend after New Years.
I still struggle with the fact both my parents died within 3 days of Christmas. The holiday lost a lot luster for me when mom went into Assisted Living - also in December - and was not able to come home for any holidays due to her disabilities. But it has been 3 years since she died - 3 years on December 28 - and while I still miss her especially during the holidays - the intensity of that sorrow fades with time. She suffered too much to wish her back.
My decorating is finished. My shopping is about three quarters finished. And I will begin wrapping gifts in a week or two. Meal planning for special events will follow. I might even catch a few Christmas specials on TV. On that schedule I can enjoy the holiday and find time to think on the real reason for the season.
Next up ... a few pictures of our decorations - followed by a few pictures of my finished knitted projects.
6 comments:
Wow, you may have strict rules on when to start, but then you get it DONE!
I still send out greeting cards, love to in fact, but I know it's not everybody's cup of tea. We don't do outside lights or a big tree mainly because I'm afraid one of us will fall off the ladder! Our tree is small and easy to handle. I'm not a big baker (anymore, sigh, that health thing). But Christmas music is free and doesn't add any inches to or waists, so we max out on it starting, yep, before Thanksgiving! I guess I totally break your Christmas music rule!
Haha. I do start shopping in November! And some gifts that are made are started in the summer. And I did have knee surgery in September so that created LOTS of time for online shopping and knitting this year.
You know, I think I have these rules because I try to 'contain' the season within boundaries. It can be a hard holiday for me. I wasn't always this way. Maybe having a grandchild around to share the season with - will loosen up my feelings about it.
You are definitely organized, me not so much. I have a do what I want when I feel like it rule! This year I do plan on making Christmas cookies, haven't in a very long time. I do enjoy Christmas music whenever. You do sound like you are feeling more at home.
I think the holidays will always be hard and carry a bit of sadness when you've lost a loved one so close to a particular holiday, but you've lost so many I'm sure it's even harder for you. My grandparents carried a sadness until the end of losing their daughter on December 21st. I do hope you still can find happiness during Christmas.
I'm with you, one holiday at a time so please publish your rules!! We had Christmas things in the stores the first of September here. I was horrified to see it out so early. On Thanksgiving I noticed that all the stores, gas stations, coffee shops etc were open and felt horrible for the families who had to work their dinners around a work schedule.
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