Holiday Decorating

I love, love, LOVE the holidays!

I can't get enough of them when they're here. I love the fall fashions, the colors of the foilage, the parties, the smells, the tastes, the spirit, the decorations....everything! I remember some of the most memorable times of childhood were those times I was watching Mom defrost the turkey for Thanksgiving or coming home early from trick-or-treating to sit with Mom and Dad and watch a Halloween movie while we waited for the doorbell to ring. Every year just after Thanksgiving we would all put on our mud boots and jackets and drive out to the Christmas tree farm to pick out a tree. Some years we would get hot chocolate, some years we would ride the train around the farm. We argued about the tree to settle on, and usually someone was always unhappy with the final choice. When the tree finally made it into the living room, that was usually the day we got to unload all of the Christmas decorations from storage and start putting things up. It was such an exciting day for me! I loved to unpack the stockings and the garlands and the ornaments.

One day I hope to be one of those Moms that decorates beautifully for every holiday. I've been really discouraged this year, because I have virtually no holiday decorations for Christmas, let alone things for the fall. And it's not like we've got tons of money to blow on that kind of stuff, especially with a baby on the way. Last year I had to settle with a pathetic 2 foot plastic tree on a side table and two stockings push-pinned into the wall. It was pretty sad. After that, I wanted to shop the sales after Christmas and see what I could get for half price or something, but it turns out the rest of the world had the same idea. I hardly had a chance to get into the store, and even then, the 'on sale' items were still outrageously expensive! So I figure I'll have to wait another year before really being able to splurge on some cute stuff. After all, it's just the two of us this year again, and once we have a new little baby next year to enjoy it with us, it will make more sense to do something more extravagant. Until then, I'll just have to admire others' decorations!