My Christmas weakness....

I am pretty much all decorated for Christmas.  I know.
It's early.
I don't care.  I love decorating for Christmas.  Even when I am past exhausted, it makes me happy.
I love the lights and the pretties...the nativity, all of it.
It is my Christmas weakness.
Someone exploded a reindeer all over my house and it is OKAY.
But the clutter that happens while decorating makes me crazy.  So I took a couple of hours this morning to power through- almost done...so close.  But done enough that I could put all the storage boxes away.

As I was duking it out with putting the storage back in the closet (I think I pulled something) and in the middle of the grunting and pushing I was all like "What the hell am I doing?  Why do I have all this crap?"
But when I go to get rid of it- sentimentality gets the better of me.
Anyone?
Particularly when it comes to Christmas decorations...I LOVE THEM.
My mom went to the school of if-one-snowman-is-good-sixty-is-better.
Not kidding- people begged for invitations to her Christmas parties just to see the house.
Full sized, gorgeous trees in almost every room!
There was the cat, tree, the star tree, the sheep tree, the flamingo tree, the nutcracker tree, and probably another star or cat tree and then the big tree that had so many ornaments on it that it took a week to decorate.  WE DID CHRISTMAS BIG.

Sadly, that weird dude broke...he was cool.

So...TRADITION.
Seriously- there are a kajillion ornaments on our big tree because they make me think of people, or happy times in my life:
-ornaments my mom made when we were too poor to buy them when I was little
-terrible salt-dough ornaments I made during the same time
-store bought ornaments that my grandparents bought me during that time
-gorgeous diamond shaped ornaments my dad made
-ornaments my grandma painted, including a cute little dude under the mistletoe that she knew I loved, so she saved it for me instead of selling it.
-ornaments from the cruise Marty and I took to Alaska
-a star that my friend Julie made out of cool African beads
-ornaments from the trip we took with my parents to Arizona
-a weird but darling felted bird made from my friend Heather's cat's hair (I am not kidding)
-the little brass angel with my name and a bell that I've had as long as I can remember
-a similar little dude that belongs to Marty
-crocheted snowmen, cats and mice my Aunt Sara used to make
-Marty's Nana's ornaments from the 30's and 40's
-my Grandma's glass reindeer from the 20's
-one half of a pair of turtledoves that my friend Stephanie gave me 20 something years ago
-a Pepe Le Pew ornament that talks to me that Marty bought
-a skier that my great Uncle Roland made me that skies down the branches
-a Snoopy and Woodstock ornament that was given to me by the first people I babysat for- those kids are in their 30's now...
-random antique and kitchy ornaments I have picked up along the way
-ornaments I have made
...and the list goes on.

You can see the skier in the middle of the photo...and Sara's snowman too...

And that's just the big tree, we also have a smaller "Marty" tree- it's covered in superheroes, cartoon characters, robots and other Marty themed things.
The response to this tree is usually "THIS IS SO COOL!"
It's the closest to a theme tree that we will get.

The geek tree

I get that people like theme trees...I do- I have seen some lovely ones.  Many years ago, I worked at the Grove Park Inn and I decorated 25 eight foot theme trees myself.  That was the year a string of lights on my tree at home went out and I almost took it down, I was so over it....

But for the most part...I love the family Christmas tree- the history it represents. I feel like it's an art form unto itself.  A visual representation of life well-lived- through generations.
So cool.

And then there's the rest of it.
I have an elf addiction- not sure why- but there it is...
We have a Bendy Elf band:

Now they have a harp as well...like you do.

And a nativity that my god-daughter keeps switching the Jesus with the one that's in the toy basket, I guess she likes that one better.

 Yes, it has a green donkey...don't be racist.

I love Christmas.  I don't like the stress or the running around.  I do like the lights, the decorations, the music, the decorations, the hanging out with family and friends...the decorations.

My Dad made the Santa on the far right.

And now that we have Godchildren, it's even more fun.  They are the best- they get so excited about the things we are jaded about.  And it's a whole new set of traditions to build. I'll never forget when Ev walked into our house right after I had decorated  when she was 2 and looked around in wonder and said:

"Ooooh!  Christmas!"

I love that she started asking to watch "The Grunch" in October.  I love that she's excited.  A whole lifetime to build up memories for her, and for Lincoln...so fun.

Already the memories have started.

Besties 2013

Christmas Eve 2013- so many presents!

We call it a bow-hawk!

These pictures are from the past couple of years. I am super excited to see what memories we come up with this year, and the next, and the next....

Tonight, we start with Invited Dress for Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

What is your Christmas weakness?