I should just come right out and say it…I was a scrooge this year. Usually I am chomping at the bit to decorate for Christmas as early as my husband will allow (for the first twenty years of our marriage we had a live tree, so he always wanted to wait until the second week of December, while I was always wrangling for December 1st). This year though, I just was not in the spirit. For the second year in a row we had an artificial tree (an old one from work that I borrowed). It has been a very hectic year work-wise for the hubs (i.e., very few off days) which translates to added stress on me. Why, you ask? Well, first of all he is so involved with our boys when he is off that his added work days means I take on all those things he normally handles. Which, let me tell you, is an AWFUL lot! He also usually does most of the cooking, both because he enjoys it and he is BETTER at it than I am. Lately I have had to take on that duty much more (to everyone’s dismay), plus lots of other reasons I won’t go into. Needless to say, I only got the tree done after my 11 year old came home from school the week before Christmas break saying that if we didn’t have a Christmas tree up or the stockings hung on the mantel this year he would just leave Santa a note on the front door. YES, I was shamed enough to put the tree up that day. Unfortunately that was my only decoration until Christmas Eve, when I finally got around to decorating the mantel (yes, those are three Alabama stockings and one Auburn one),
the sofa table (my 11 year old painted the snowman this year :-),
and making the Christmas cookies (not iced!).
Luckily, my Christmas spirit finally showed up that day, and I have been enjoying it ever since! In fact, I am gonna embrace my English brother-in-law’s tradition of leaving it all up until New Years!
I also wanted to share photos of our tree and some of our ornaments. We started our ornament collection the year we married (1993) with one from the Coca Cola Museum in Atlanta, GA.
I was a senior at Auburn University, and my then-fiancé and I drove to Atlanta to pick up my wedding dress. While there we toured the museum and bought the ornament, starting a tradition of buying an ornament or two (or three!) each year.
This year was the first year that I did not use a single “filler” ball ornament. Our tree was decorated entirely with our special yearly purchases and the boys’ handmade ornaments from past years. Of course our respective college teams are represented:
These are a some of my favorites:
And of course some of the handmade:
I think our tree is beautiful, even if it IS artificial! (Disclosure: I still love a real tree, but I have to admit that an artificial one is easier to put up and take down)
Well, there you have it. Believe it or not, I have enough Christmas decorations for every room of my house (including bathrooms), a Christmas village, and outside items. Maybe next year I will get it all out and up, and in a timely fashion.
More importantly, we have had some good quality family time (the Hubs got home Christmas morning and was off the weekend), and I had some vacation days saved so I have been off some with the boys during their school break. I have enjoyed this Christmas more than almost any other we have had despite the “scrooge” beginning!
A Belated Merry Christmas I should just come right out and say it...I was a scrooge this year. Usually I am chomping at the bit to decorate for Christmas as early as my husband will allow (for the first twenty years of our marriage we had a live tree, so he always wanted to wait until the second week of December, while I was always wrangling for December 1st).
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