Sunday, November 30, 2008

Halls, Decked

Around 10 p.m. on Friday night, I decided to decorate our house for Christmas. My in-laws were all asleep upstairs, JP was studying, and I had a lot of tension to work off, so I figured I might as well do it productively.

Decorating the house for Christmas was a big deal growing up. My mom replaced almost everything in our entire downstairs with a Christmas version - plates, cups, pictures, candles, wall hangings, knick knacks, etc., it all got switched. My favorite day all year was the day I'd come home from school to discover the magical transformation. Over the past few years my mom has cut back on her decorating and set aside the items she wasn't using anymore in a box for me. That box has been in our hall closet since July and on Friday I finally opened it. It was so fun, listening to Trans Siberian Orchestra, pulling out each piece from my childhood memories and finding a spot for it in my own house. I got so into it that I ran to Wal-Mart at 11:30 to pick up a few missing pieces like candles and extension cords so everything would be perfect on Saturday morning. And just like I used to twenty-five years ago, Landon woke up to a new house, one filled with twinkling lights, snow men, and holiday happiness.

When I was little I always thought I'd be sad to grow up and leave my house and its abundance of love and traditions, but as I realized last year, you grow up in stages, and each year I find myself creating a little more of a holiday separate from the one I shared with my parents. I can now see us spending much of the holidays relaxing in our own home, and I couldn't have imagined that just a few years ago.

We put up the outdoor lights today (and by "we" I mean I decided it should happen and JP and his dad did all the work). Our house and roof peaks are framed in brilliant white LED lights, there's twinkling snowflakes hanging off the front porch, and the bushes are blanketed with multi-color bulbs (I generally dislike multi-colored Christmas lights, but the LED variety are so bright and pretty I find myself growing quite fond of them). There's a big wreath on our front door, lighted garland wrapped down the banister of the stairs, and a mini Christmas tree with all eight of our ornaments hanging proudly on its little branches. The annual letter has been written, the family photo has been taken, and the cards are waiting to be addressed. Christmas has come to the Lag Liv house!

11 comments:

  1. Sounds like a beautiful tradition! How fun. :) I am still trying to figure out what traditions we should come up with and continue. I want to do something special for/with Pumpkinhead but I am not sure what. Maybe yearly handprints or something. I'll figure it out after finals.

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  2. Sounds lovely! I would love to see a photo or two..

    We tend to decorate the tree together as a family. I like the tradition of buying one new ornament per year for my sister's family and one for my best friend and her husband.

    I love the sense of history that an ornament-a-year brings.

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  3. Post pics LL! It sounds lovely. It is so nice to create your own holiday traditions!

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  4. There really is nothing better than getting ready for Christmas. I almost love the month before more than the actual day. It's so weird combining two completely different Christmas traditions...

    I just read the post you wrote last year, and it almost works perfectly to describe my feelings about Christmas this year. This will be PJO's first Christmas ever that he hasn't spent at home with his family, but it also probably won't be the Christmas tradition I want to start (especially if we're in the hospital on Dec. 25th!) - nevertheless, I am SO excited that it is our first Christmas together in our place alone.
    I hope Landon absolutely LOVES everything about your new holiday traditions :)

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  5. It sounds beautiful! I love decorating for Christmas. I have had similar late night bursts of motivation!

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  6. YAY Christmas! I am so excited too. On Friday my husband actually said he's never seen me so happy. We decorated our apartment!! Yahoo!! I CAN'T WAIT.

    BTW I loved your Thanksgiving story. So cute. And your table looked so great! SO grown up!

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  7. Yay for continuing traditions as well as starting your own! Glad things are working out so well!

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  8. Your mom is awesome. That's so cute! I started getting ornaments for my first grown-up tree in my house! We're having a Christmas tree decorating party on Sunday. I love the idea of switching everything to Christmas. But, uhm, I've already spent too much on ornaments, lol!

    Yes, yes, pics please!

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  9. What a difference a year makes, huh? I am so happy to see you happy where you are, and in what you're doing!

    I work downtown at a big office building attached to a hotel, and this morning when I went upstairs there wasn't a Christmas decoration in sight, and then when I came down they were everywhere! I can see why that's so cool and magical! :)

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