Ready or not… here it comes…! Christmas is {gasp!} less than one week away…! Deep breaths…!

So usually I’m more on the not ready side… This year I have decked my halls and I am ready…but really only in that one respect…shopping…not a chance! It’s not by my own doing however… I have to give credit to the ice storm which precluded anyone from leaving the house the Sunday before last…!

This beautiful storm gave me lots of time to:

• drag boxes down from upstairs… (I say upstairs because it’s way more glamorous than saying the arctic attic…seriously could not feel my hands when I was finished…)
• make hot chocolate with the boy and finish watching It’s a Wonderful Life while waiting for my paws to thaw…
• wonder why I had so many strings of lights…but only 4 ornament hooks…
• debate moving furniture to put up the big tree… (which ends up being a cat chew toy…!)
• decide the little tree was better… (thanks to the encouragement and sound judgement of my husband…!)
• start a goodwill pile in the old mashed up ornament storage box … (which apparently held a lot of glittery things at one point…)
• remove big cat from the goodwill box… brush glitter off of cat…repeat as necessary…
• play the Transiberian Orchestra and a sappy Hallmark movie-Christmas in Conway…go ahead and check it out, but you have been warned!!
• rearrange the nutcracker army multiple times… (note to self to glue the hat back on the medium sized guy… he took a little tumble… I swear I did not push him…)

• find a place for all the displaced decorative items and lamps that were moved in the making of this Christmas display… (please do not look at my kitchen table right now…!)

I’m happy it’s done (and a little sad at the same time- because now what will I plan and plot while I work out? Anyone got a house that needs some Christmas rearranging and decorating love???…no really- I’m serious…! Hire me, you won’t regret it…! We’ll have f.u.n…! I promise!)

But I’m also really happy I only spent $12 on decorations this year! Everything was either already living in the attic (tree, garlands, nutcrackers, santas) or newly made out of stuff we already owned (peace and joy banners, Noel wreath and mini triangle pennants- details to come soon…!)

My new blue ornaments cost me $1 after a coupon… I splurged on the 1960’s plastic holly and instrument garland at the vintage home show a few weeks back… but where else could you find such tacky unique (!) decorations for $5?? And I spent $6 on the folding ruler that we bent into a star.

Is it perfect? Not by any means. Is it Christmas home blog tour worthy? Probably not… I haven’t seen many Rodney and Rhonda reindeer gangs {say that five times fast..!} in many other people’s homes… but it’s ok! Everything means something to us and is cherished and loved. Don’t be afraid to decorate with what you love in any season!

If I think too much about what everyone else has or is doing, I can easily get too wrapped up in trying to have the perfect Christmas- decorations, gifts, dinners, traditions, etc and I can forget that Mary didn’t -in any way shape or form -have the perfect birth. She made do with a manger and a stable. Not at all the way people thought a savior would come… But she had God with her.

So as we make the last mad dash toward Christmas don’t forget to unwrap the greatest gift of all- Jesus.

Thanks for reading and Happy Decorating y’all!