Julie from Another Chance Ranch is hosting Fun Monday for November. Her theme is: Decorating for Christmas– When do you start decorating for Christmas?–Do you go all out? Or just put up a tree? Maybe you have a theme. –Let’s talk Christmas.
I had a boss once who did a themed Christmas every year. One year it was Hawaiian. They had a luau. When I was a college student, I went to a party at the President’s house and they had TWELVE Christmas trees. One of them was completely covered in little faux birds. They rest all had different themes as well. It was a nice effect.
As for us, it’s totally ‘standard’ with ornaments that we had when we were young, and ones we are gathering for Keeley. We have one for every year we have been married, and Keeley has some from the last 2 years. We already went to Hallmark (before it got all scented) and picked out our ornaments. This year Keeley’s is “Taz Unwrapped” with of course, Taz covered in wrapping paper and ribbon. I think that fits a 2 year old pretty well. Ours, of course… big sigh, now, is ‘New Home’, a white birdhouse with 2 birds checking it out. In pretty much every place we’ve lived, we’ve had our mistletoe hung in a great ‘kissing’ spot. Somehow it never got hung after we moved in. I need to rectify that. Otherwise, everything is just kind of general red and green type of stuff.
Since we’re hosting Christmas this year, we’ve decided I think to put the tree in front of our living room windows. It’s artificial, so we can leave off the bottom branches and it will still be fine, since you can’t see it from outside, and it won’t matter inside, either. That should leave plenty of room for presents. With a total of 16 people (so far we hope 13 can make it) on my side of the family, it will be a crowded, but fun time. Last night I switched where MY desk and the rocking chair are. My husband is moving HIS desk up to the upstairs (hopefully that will motivate him to finish it up there!) and that will free up some room! If we pull out the coffee table and ottoman, and move any small things, like the book rack for Keeley, it will help out a lot, too. No big deal and we can do that the same day! I’m excited, though, to get everything ready. I’ve never hosted a holiday and I think it will be fun. It will be a lot of work, but fun. I already have my cookies started (2 kinds done!) and I’m thinking of ways to arrange our dining room to get everyone in. We are going to buy a collapsible table that I can use to craft and wrap presents (at first it will go upstairs!) and it will be the second table. My mom said she’d bring folding chairs this year, so we won’t have to buy them yet. We may see if we can get some extra leaves for our table, as well. They will have to be custom made, but it can’t be ‘that much’ right, ha! Anyway, when we built our house, we figured we’d host some parties here, so we made sure there was plenty of floor space for 2 tables. We’ll see how that pans out!
The best part for us, though, of Christmas isn’t the meal or the presents, or even the gatherings. It’s the love of God that we feel especially at this time of year. It’s a good reminder for us to cherish our own baby and love her no matter what. It’s a reminder to be good and do good for others. It’s a gift, in and of itself. In our lives, that makes all the difference.
Hosting a holiday gathering IS a lot of work, but absolutely worth it. The key is organization. You’re off to a good start getting the cookies done ahead of time. I approach holidays the same way I did my wedding. A little bit at a time – no rushing around. It works, but you have to be disciplined!
It sounds like you try to do the things to celebrate Christmas that have special meaning for you and your family, Jill for sure find that mistletoe!). That’s good. You’ll be a great host for the family holiday gathering–you take care of the details. You’ll love having that large folding table. I have two sizes that I use for projects and sewing–woth the twenty bucks.
I forgot to add that my hubby likes to decorate early, so I’ve been fighting him off. If he takes time off before Thanksgiving, I might let him put the tree up before next Friday. If not, we’ll do it that day! I don’t have hardly ANY decorations, so I need to get them on sale this year!
It will be so nice to celebrate Christmas in your new home with all of your family, Jill. We began the tradition of having Christmas Open House when we moved into our new home 7 years ago. I pretty much have it all down pat by now. I already have my menu planned.
We’re doing something similar … a new home. Hard to feel like home so far, but I am trying. We’ll be hosting both Thanksgiving & CHristmas this year, since our new place is the only one that is quite big enough for everyone to fit. I think our tree will be placed in our new 3 season room that I almost have finished. That way, we can see it while at the dinner table, but it doesn’t take up what precious little space we have inside.