Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tis (almost) the season!


It's hard not to be swept up by the rush that is the "holiday" season.

I absolutely love Christmas -- I always have. My favorite word is festive, which is, of course, absolutely appropriate to use during this time (other times, not so much, but whatever!). Being in advertising, I especially understand that every twinkling light and glittery snowflake is a carefully-crafted attempt to get you to feel the need to buy, buy, buy -- gifts, decorations, etc. I get it, but IT WORKS! Every store you go into has such a festive feel, it's hard not to want to be a part of it!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to fight it! It's just a matter of timing. Of course this is always a popular theme -- people complaining that commercialized Christmas comes earlier and earlier every year. Although, this year, I feel like it's actually coming at a semi-appropriate time. Sure, Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet, but at least they waited until after Halloween, right? This does not mean that I personally feel ready for it to be that time of year...2008 has flown by so fast...

I am big on tradition, always have been. Since my birthday is at the beginning of December, my parents decided that we would always go cut down our tree on my birthday weekend - and I really cherished that. We would get all bundled up, make the long trip to the tree farm, and we would wander the rows of trees looking for the perfect one. Mom would be indecisive, but finally we would settle on one, and Dad would cut it down. We got free candy canes back at the barn - woo! After hauling that sucker home, Dad would have the frustrating, but crucial, role of stringing the lights. Then the rest of us would get out the box of ornaments and get to decorating. I loved looking through the hodge podge of ornaments that my mom had collected over the years. They all had special meaning in some way. I have a few favorites that she knows I have dibs on! I was always very adamant each year that we stuck to our timing and tradition...often to the point of annoyance to others as we got older and life got a little more complicated.

Of course we haven't been able to get the tree as a family for 5 years now, since I have been gone, as have my sisters. Last year, Tony and I wanted to wait until December to get our tree - for whatever reason we ended up waiting til mid December, and at that point, it seems almost silly to go to all of the trouble, when it's just going to come down soon (um.. we've made up for this, I suppose, by still having the tree - dead and rotting - in our backyard... don't judge me).

So this year, I have decided to start our own tradition by decorating the house, getting the tree, etc, on Thanksgiving weekend. I know this makes my mother shudder, but it's the best for timing purposes! I have some time off of work, and Tony has a little time off, so next weekend I will be a Christmas machine! Don't worry (you were worrying, weren't you??)- I will document this process with an obscene amount of pictures that I will post for all of the world to see. Lucky you!

2 comments:

  1. It's only okay if you take an obscene amount of pictures! :)

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  2. *chanting* PICS! PICS! Yay for old & new traditions.

    I totally agree w/ you--there's just something so heartwarming about seeing stores all decked out for the holidays.

    Can I just say that I adore your wedding dress? You were such a gorgeous bride!

    Thanks for dropping by my blog and for your kind comments!!

    ReplyDelete

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