It is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas in here, and when I say a lot, I mean a lot! Walking through the apartment is kind of like walking through a Christmas movie set! I will tell you that I used to be strict about not decorating for Christmas until after Santa arrived at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but over the years things have changed.
Perhaps some of the changes is that I go bigger with Christmas each year, so it takes me longer to put up. Currently I have been putting up Christmas for eleven days and it's not what I consider complete yet. I also come up with all these craft projects for myself, so between crafts and decorating and cooking and baking I start early so I can get it all done with plenty of time to sit back and enjoy it.
Perhaps I skip to Christmas (and go bigger) because for too many years I was married to someone who had to have Thanksgiving his way and only his way and I'm still bucking that system. Don't misunderstand I like Thanksgiving fine, I have only once in recent years missed the Macy's Parade due to having no power and I was devastated! But Tamy and I have our own traditions that are often non-traditional. We have traveled for Thanksgiving, we've eaten out, we've had people over, we've just hung out together. There have been years we've gone shopping late at night and years we stayed in our pjs all day and some years we don't even eat turkey! This year the plan is to have turkey meatloaf and have a cozy day in. And I have to tell you it's nice to be able to watch the parade with the Christmas tree sparkling nearby. It's nice to have Tamy support this Christmas explosion that happens here instead of treating it like a negative - which might be another reason I have gone so Christmas crazy, when someone tells you that your desire to make Christmas epic is a fault... well you embrace that fault and go big.
It could be that I find Thanksgiving a little traumatizing - maybe it's because my grandmother's birthday falls around Thanksgiving, as well as the date of the last time I saw her and the date she died. So maybe Thanksgiving makes me a little sad so by going full Christmas it cheers me up? I have some of my grandmother's decorations both for Thanksgiving and Christmas and I put them all out and they make me happy, and they make her feel close.
I get it the traditionalists and Thanksgiving diehards may not understand, but maybe before passing judgement on someone for jumping into Christmas you consider why. Maybe it's ghosts of an abusive relationship that makes you want to skip ahead. Maybe it's memories of a loved one that makes you want to focus on the happy things and happy times instead of being sad or maybe the person just loves Christmas - and in this crazy world where everything is a mess and people are constantly at odds maybe just maybe they want to find peace in Christmas. Is that really so bad? However, you choose to celebrate, decorate, etc I hope you have the most amazing holiday season! I'll be back soon with craft projects and gift guides so stay tuned!