Last week on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, our family decided to put up Perry's new Christmas tree. His old one was falling apart - literally - and we threw it away after the holiday season. This year we bought a new one on sale and decided that we should put it together in hopes that it was a beautiful fake tree, as well as a good buy, and not one that we were going to have to take back before the shopping season began.

After the tree was up and the decorations were carefully placed (all in the front and in the middle, thank you very much Perry), it really helped us to get into the holiday spirit.

But I had 20 people coming to our home on Thanksgiving, so I wasn't about to mess with anything else in the house at the time. I have beautiful fall and harvest decor and it was time to live life one holiday at a time.

And there's something else you must know about me...

When it comes to Christmas decorating, I'm a little Type A and must obsess/detail/agonize/complete the entire holiday decor in one day. I will not go to sleep until all of the decorations are in their place and the house is in order.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving, and I'm slowly losing my voice, along with a very stuffy head and nasal gunk. I have 20 people in my home, I'm as tired as can be, but thankfully it is family and they we can deal with each other. Then on Saturday, I hosted a brunch with another 20 people in my home and couldn't get them out of my house fast enough so that I could visit a minute clinic at our local pharmacy. I was tested for strep which was thankfully negative, but was diagnosed with a mother of a sinus infection and thankfully this nurse practitioner had mercy on me and prescribed me an antibiotic. By Sunday evening, I was starting to come out from under my sinus cloud and began to think about Christmas decorating.

So on Sunday evening, we decided to decorate our family tree in the living room. It only took a little over an hour and a half, and we felt like we accomplished another holiday feat.

Tonight after dinner, I hung my lit garland on the staircase which also only took a little over an hour. My house is looking rather festive now - but I'm still not finished. As I look over in the breakfast room, my husband has placed over 7 large totes that contains all of my Christmas decor. They are sitting there tempting me, but I'm not going to even open one of them.

And they will continue to sit there until probably Wednesday morning - my day off. And if it doesn't get finished on Wednesday, there's always Friday.

I'm taking a new and fresh approach to Christmas decorating this year - Christmas in stages - and it feels really good.

Labels: Christmas