Well…my baby started back to school today. Fourth grade!! Wow! So for her that means she gets to see her friends every day…but for me…that is the OFFICIAL start of the Fall season, which happens to also be the official start to my holiday season! We got a great early start to our Holiday Grand Plan cleaning because of DD’s birthday party, so tonight the real preparations begin! I am trying to make a list of what needs done in EVERY room, so I can plan what to do each day. I love the FlyLady website! She is so right, you can do anything for 15 minutes, and that is what I’m going to try to remember as my list grows and grows! One thing at a time, right? Anyway, like I said I got a great headstart on it, the carpets all got cleaned, wood floors got cleaned and all of the main rooms have been pretty well cleaned up. I can’t wait to go home and get my fall decorations out and put my tablecloth on my table with my pumpkin and the candle in it….yiy, I’m excited already!
So I tried to get Lakeside to send me the 2011 Christmas catalog…but I got the Fall one instead! Boo! It’s just not as fun to look at that stuff online as to have it in your hands to browse through leisurely. Sigh….maybe it will come soon. So anyway, we went to Costco on Friday to shop for DD’s birthday party, and Holy COW they already have ribbon and lights out, along with TONS of children’s toys for the holiday season! So early, do you believe it?! I was major excited! But I tried to not let it show! Most people think that is so weird this time of year. I just love to extend the holiday as much as possible! Why not?! It’s such a happy, fun time! A lot of people groan when they think about Christmas, because the first thing that comes to mind for them is how much it costs. That is absolutely the last thing I think about when I think of Christmas. The first think I think of is joy, and beauty, family and friends, celebrations, delicious smells, Advent celebrations at church, the giving nature of everyone, and just the general sense of kindness, cheer, joy, faith, and giving. Christmas would still be Christmas, even without all of the gifts. Of course, I LOVE the shopping, even if I don’t buy ANYTHING! I never miss Black Friday shopping! My SIL and I always have so much fun! My DH likes to go for a little bit, but he is too impatient with people. SIL and I are content to stand in a long line to get in a store, or a long checkout line, we don’t mind a bit. We just love the excitement of all of the people out rush rush rushing, and we are just leisurely, and laid back! We ALWAYS go to Kohl’s to get the Big One Throws each year. LOVE them! Anyway, enough about that. I just can’t understand why so many people have such a negative attitude toward the holidays. If I even mention that Costco had Christmas stuff out, it’s “ughhhh…already?!” I’m like “Heck, yeah, I’m ready to go look at ALL of it!” Just waiting now for all of the other retailers to start putting it out!
This year, I think I’m going to seriously go traditional with my decorations, and especially my tree! No modern fancy glass balls of bright green and bright red! No fancy colored lights! We are going with all white lights this year, and lots of handmade and old-fashioned ornaments, some homemade cranberry garland, pine cones, woodsy type of stuff! This will be my first time trying to go really traditional with my tree. I’ve always been into the modern looking stuff, but I guess as I get older I am more nostalgic about my childhood, and back-to-basics kind of stuff. So I’m super excited about that! Guess I’ll end this with a “Happy Holidays 2011!” Woohoo!!!!
Merry Christmas! It’s been ages. Love reading your blog. Can’t wait to get to Costco now – they have amazing Christmas wrapping paper. I’ve started on my Holiday Plan too – a combination of a few plans and notebooks. I hope to get further than I usually do this year (okay, I hope that I get further every year – lol). Can’t wait to see pics of your tree!
Oh I know, their paper is the BEST! I get two new rolls every year! And of course I’ll never go through those whole two rolls in any one (or even TWO!) years, so I always have a great selection every year! I also love getting some from I think it is Walgreens every year. Always, right around the end of November, beginning of December, they always have a buy one get two free rolls of HALLMARK wrapping paper! Love that stuff, too! They always have the vintage looking papers that I LOVE! Especially for this year, when my whole theme is going to be old-fashioned Christmas. I CAN’T WAIT!!! I will definitely post pics of my tree! DD and I are going to make some cool ornaments for it this week using some geometric patterns we found online, we are going to use my scrapbooking Christmas papers to make them beautiful! How fun!! I’m SO EXCITED! Thanks for reading!!