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| A scene from one of my favorite Christmas fabrics, now made into a throw |
"On the day after [Thanksgiving], I can hardly wait to finish my morning coffee sipped from a china Christmas mug. The Christmas season officially arrived last night when I pulled those [Christmas] plates off the top shelf in the china cabinet. Today is special.
"I will decorate the Christmas tree. The shopping is done (well, almost), and wrapped packages will be retrieved from where I stored them last summer ...
"If all goes well (and I have a little help from my husband), by bedtime tonight I may have candles in the windows, nativity scenes on the tables, and even stockings by the fireplace. Once the house is decorated, the Christmas spirit just creeps in and I begin to relax. Now I look forward to enjoying the season, baking fruitcakes, having friends over, visiting in their homes, and rejoicing in the birth of the Savior." ~ Barbara Sims, Homemade Hospitality
I think she's onto something here. For years, I thought people who put their tree up right after Thanksgiving were really rushing the season. But this year we started decorating earlier than usual, and I did notice that once the house looked pretty and festive I started to relax as far as enjoying the season went. (We won't discuss my rush to finish and mail handcrafted gifts, which is another story entirely.) So next year, I may follow Mrs. Sims' lead and decorate even earlier!
I've been thinking the same sort of thoughts about this coming Christmas. Usually I dont' really start shopping until November 1st because that's when our Christmas Club savings gets deposited to our account. I talked it over with my husband & we are really going to make an effort to have all of our shopping done & gifts wrapped by December 1st this year. Then we can decorate & celebrate in a much more relaxed fashion. We have definitely been hitting the deadline the last couple of years :-)
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea, Mary Ann! After this year's mad rush to the post office, using far too many flat rate priority boxes -- the cheapest way to mail to NV -- my hubby said we are going to have to re-think some things for the coming year. He wants us to really plan, craft, and shop ahead so we won't be down to the wire this coming Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI may need to read that book, looks good. I am a big fan of early decorating. I does set the tone for the season. And really the more relaxed you are the more you can focus on the parts of the celebrating that truly matter.
ReplyDeleteI think you are absolutely right, Mrs. Smith! Thanks for stopping by to visit here in my Christmas kitchen!
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