Tis Time To Decorate!

Yes folks...  it tis that time of year again to yank out all those holiday decorations, put outside twinkle lights up and such to celebrate the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday, as well as Christmas.  I am already seeing Christmas lights up on many houses in our area (including our own) and it is just so beautiful to see when driving around town... especially since the days are so short now and darkness comes so early, the Christmas twinkle lights make the long hours of darkness sooo much better!

Joe works from Nov. 1st thru Dec. 23rd everyday... traveling most days... he leaves when it's dark outside, and when he gets home it's dark outside, then he is working every weekend til Christmas too... so because of his heavy work schedule during this season, we have our outdoor lights put up by our lawn fella.  This little hometown lawn company keeps busy in the winter time by putting up and taking down all the lights, so it helps them too.  Plus... honestly... I am 4' 11"... even on the tallest of ladders I can not reach the heights necessary to put the lights up on the house or on the outside trees... AND... I'm quite clumsy to begin with... so... I'm totally ok with avoiding ladder danger!  This company orders your choice of lights, you decide what you want strung with lights and they do the rest.  The first year is the most expensive because of the costs of the lights needed to purchase... the years following, these folks come out and put the lights up and you don't even know they have done so until you come home and see the lights on the house.  After the holidays are over, they store each customers lights in a bucket with the customers name on it and it takes them less than an hour to string all the lights up in the years after the initial year.  Sooooo cool!!!  We chose the LED blue-ish looking lights and I just LOVE them!!!!  We are the only house on our street, so when we pull onto our street and see our house all aglow at the end of the street... it is such a happy greeting to come home to!

Last year was our first Thanksgiving and Christmas in this house... we moved here in Oct. and we were not completely unpacked and settled by the time the Holidays came around... so... I stressed and fretted where to put my Holiday decorations from houses past and finally, pretty much just put stuff wherever there was an open spot just to 'git-r-done'.  We weren't home for the actual Christmas holidays anyway, so it didn't matter that much.

This year we are entertaining a nice group for Thanksgiving, and the following weekend we are hosting a cocktail hour for some business folks, and I really needed my house to be decorated prior to Thanksgiving for both reasons.  The only problem is....  I don't have the eye for decorating... I'm teachable, and I can do it once I see it done... but I just lack the vision to see it in the first place.  However... I have a very dear, sweet, adorable friend who is very talented in this area... so with the promise of making her all her favorite dishes for lunch (which wasn't necessary... she would have done it for me anyway)... Katie Girl came over and worked for two days with me decorating my house.  My house has NEVER looked this fabulous decorated before!!!  I'm soooo happy with the Holiday Cheer that is now all over my house, that I am more excited for this Christmas than I ever have been before... and that's saying quite a bit since I'm always gaga for Christmas!  But then.... perhaps these two new Grandbabies might have something to do with my Christmas spirit too??!!  :  )

I worked for two days bringing out all the Holiday decorations, unboxing them, and then arranging them in organized piles, so that when Katie got here she could literally 'shop' from all the decorations I have accumulated over the past 30+ years.  I didn't have to go out and buy a single thing for her to transform my house into the festive jewel she is now!  I have so many Holiday decorations, I had plenty of stuff left over that just needs to be packed away again and saved for when/if we move to a new home again.
Katie took all my 'Christmas stuff' and arranged it in with a lot of my 'everyday decorations' and blended them in together, so you get a feel of what the house normally looks like as well as how festive it looks with Holiday decorations.  In the past 30+ years I have always completely disassembled my house, taking ALL the normal decorations down and putting up just Holiday decorations... I'm just completely amazed that having the decorations blended together makes such a difference... much more homier feeling!  I'm in deep deep gratitude for Katie Girl's time, and talent she shared with me.  I LOVE's ya bunches girl!!!

This is the first time I've ever had help with all the Holiday decorating... wish I had had it years before!  My Grandma used to decorate anything and everything in sight that would hold an ornament, tinsel, bell hanger, or ribbon!  EVERYTHING!!!  Every inch of her house would be totally gussed up for the Holidays!  All us Grandkids would go over and help her decorate as we were growing up, but she would do most of it.  As we all got older, and she too got older and could no longer decorate her house the way she wanted it, my cousins would go in and decorate for her... just like she used to do.  She makes lunch, they decorate, and I've heard it was always a special time for them all.  My cousins still live in the same town my Grandma did, and I always lived at least one or more states away, so I was just never able to be there to lend a hand... sure wish I could have tho!  My cousin Sherry was the main decorator, and my cousin Debbie was the main un-decorator.  Debbie's job was to visit Grandma after the Holidays and take down all the decorations and pack them away for her until next year.  It was a great system and the running joke between the two sisters was... Sherry would always say... "Ha Ha Debbie... I'm putting out every single thing, in every single box... so you have to put every single thing back away, in every single box"!  They always enjoyed their roles in helping Grandma with her decorations.

This is our 2nd Christmas to celebrate without Grandma and we dearly dearly miss her!  After Grandma passed away and her possessions had to be sorted out and dealt with... all us cousins gathered in her condo to pick and choose special possessions we wanted to keep of hers.  I ended up with several of her Christmas decorations that I remembered ALWAYS seeing her put out each year.  I also have several Christmas decorations from Grandma that she hand made for all of us over the years.  When Katie was decorating, my only request was that those special decorations be used somewhere in my house.  So Grandma... you are literally all over my house and I think of you each time I see anything you made for me, or that I inherited after you passed.... these things are still cherished, and loved, and always will be!!!


I have greenery swags that used to hang on our black wrought iron fence from our previous house... Katie took these swags and wire clippers and turned them into these amazing centerpieces and tucked bits of this greenery here, there, and everywhere and just those tiny little touches have made some of the biggest differences.  There is NOTHING in my house this year that is in the same spot it was last year... yet... I feel all the pieces are exactly where they should be now.  After all the Holiday hub-a-bubba is over... I have asked Katie if she would come help me re-decorate my house with just my everyday decorations.  I know if she is in town, and IF she is able, she will once again come to my aid and lend her amazing talent and time.  I will once again fix her all her favorite nibbles, and we will once again chat and giggle our way through the task.  Again.... I'm soooo grateful for not only Katie's talent... but her awesome friendship too!

I still have to repack the unused items away, but because I had to do outside of the house running errands today, that task is on the agenda for tomorrow... but other than that, my house is all decorated and ready to host and entertain.  HALLEUJAH!!!! To Katie!

Wishing you all a Merry Season of Twinkle Lights, Christmas Trees, Wreaths, Mistletoe, and/or whatever it is that brings you Holiday Joy!  To those of other religions than Christian... may you have a Merry Season celebrating your faiths with your loved ones!