Deck the Halls and Stuff the Turkey

One of my pet peeves is rushing the seasons. Flip-flops are on the shelves with the Valentines, school supplies are in the stores before the 4th of July, then Halloween stuff starts showing up in August. Honestly, the Christmas trees were up in the entryway at WalMart on November 1! I remember, because Caleb said, "Mama! Christmas party!"

I have never put up a tree before Thanksgiving. It is one of my traditions to put up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving while watching A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation. I light the holiday scented candles and break out the snowmen! This year, though, I had to break my own rules...and I hate breaking my own rules. I put up the tree today. I must admit...it's beautiful - almost beautiful enough for me to sing a Christmas song on November 23rd, but not quite. Our house is now cast in a warm glow that contrasts the cold air outside just perfectly. I compromised and lit a candle, but went with "cinnamon toast" since that could be Thanksgiving or Christmas.

The reason for my rule-breaking is that we are leaving for Springfield, TN (a Nashville suburb) on Tuesday night and we won't be back until Sunday. We're looking forward to the time with the Voise family for Thanksgiving, but the drive is going to be a tough one. It's 8-9 hours normally, but when you throw in a toddler, it's going to be more like 10-11. We decided to bite the bullet and spend the night in Memphis to break up the trip, but that means leaving on Tuesday instead of Wednesday and getting home Sunday instead of Saturday. So - knowing that I'll be exhausted next weekend and absolutely not feel like putting up a tree, I did it today. Now it's done and I don't have to worry with it when we get back. However...I will not decorate outside until after Thanksgiving...the wreath on the door continues to the be the Razorback football wreath, the pumpkins stay on the doorstep and the (dried-out) mums stay in the pots until we get back. Here are some pictures:

This is the wreath I made for football season this year. Even though it may be the worst football season I can ever remember, I like it anyway:

Here's the living room this afternoon. I did my usual snowman-only tree, but loved having a new pre-lit tree this year! The ornaments on the mantle garland are some that are just special to us - things we've picked up on vacations, some "baby's first year" and some gifts that we've received. I know, we need a tree skirt - Rudy is getting one at WalMart as I write this. And Monica always says there's nothing so sad as a Christmas tree without gifts. I'm working on it. They are purchased, just not wrapped!

After I got the tree put up, I was so excited to pull out the box holding my Willow Tree nativity set. I bought it a few years ago with some of the money that I got for Christmas. It's such a simple set, which makes it beautiful.As usual, with the Christmas decorations comes my snowman collection. It freaks Rudy out and he likes to give me a hard time about it. They are just so whimsical and festive and some of them are downright beautiful. I have the scattered throughout the house, but the highest concentration is on the bookshelf...out of Caleb's reach:And hanging on the back door is this stocking, embroidered "Haley 1976" - I've never had a Christmas without it. It's starting to get a little fragile and showing some wear, but so am I!