My Favorite Day of the Year

Growing up, our family typically spent the weekend following Thanksgiving preparing the house for Christmas.  We would pull all of the decorations and ornaments out of storage - and place them exactly where Mom instructed. This is a tradition that I always looked forward to and have incorporated into my own home as an adult. In fact, the day (or two) after Thanksgiving has come to be probably one of my favorite days of the entire year.


It is a day that I spend getting tote after tote out of the attic, pulling all of the treasures out and spreading them across the living room floor to see what is all there. Wall by wall, shelf by shelf, snowmen, reindeer and signs reflecting on the holiday season slowly find their homes for the next six weeks or so.  By the end of the weekend, serenaded by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, our home has been transformed into a cozy Christmas haven.



This year has been a challenge for so many - and as I saw others begin preparing for the holidays even earlier than normal to try to bring about some cheer (or maybe just trying to fast forward to the end of 2020) I can't say I wasn't tempted to jump on the bandwagon.  But for the sake of tradition (and my husband's sanity) I decided to wait until after Thanksgiving as usual.  Earlier in the week I let my daughter know that we would be getting the Christmas stuff out after Thanksgiving.  She had been feeling a little left out driving through our neighborhood to see house after house with lights and trees already dawning front windows.  So when the day came, her excitement was overflowing and all morning she kept asking if it was time yet.  

While we still have to get our main tree (mom's tree) we did set up the kids' tree and little miss got to go to town decorating that one.


As difficult as it is to have an over-zealous five year old when trying to go through everything I reminded myself of how that very excitement is the reason for what we were doing.  The joy of a child at Christmas is unlike any other and as a parent it is so much fun to create those experiences and memories.

 

Now, all that is left to do (besides cut down our main tree and decorate it), is sit back and enjoy all the Christmas movies, hot cocoa, and festivities that are to come over the next month or so - and remember to slow down and take in all the beauty of Christmas instead of just rushing through all of the motions.

I'm off to light a fire in the wood stove and relax amidst my warm, cozy "twinkle lights" as my daughter calls them.  Good night!

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