It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Hi Darling!

So Thanksgiving is so over and done...

Are you joining me in my Thanksgiving Resolution Revolution?

I'm trying my best to keep to it...I actually am doing better with it than if it was a New Year's Resolution...

I'm bound and determined not to regret the holidays this year...well not the holidays but every single morsel I put into my mouth and the laziness that follows...

So far no egg nog has entered Casa Bonita...

yet...

But also so far there is no décor in Casa Bonita...

that is because all my decorations are locked in storage at the movers...I'm hoping that by tomorrow they will have located all the stuff that is in the vault (a huge wooden box they keep it in) and will call me to tell me to come and get it...

The only decorations I have with me right now are two small pre-lit trees that are on either side of my fireplace...and for some reason Dragon is terrified of them---but only when they are turned on...

I want to have a whole "Griswold Light Show" outside but thus far I have been unable to locate C-9 lights anywhere...I have the clips, I have had the yard man cut back the bushes...I even have someone who will put them up for me...

but no lights

I think I am going to have to order some online...maybe I can get them up by December 24...

Decorating for Christmas has always been an ordeal for me...

when I was first married I didn't realize I had married the Grinch...the ex never ever wanted to help me with decorating...he could have cared less about it all

so he didn't help at all...

it was like pulling teeth to get him to even carry a tree in...I think he helped pick one out...

once...

After years of suffering sinus infections and feeling awful during the holidays I discovered that I am allergic to Christmas trees...between the pollen and the microscopic mold that grows on them my allergies kick in to high gear and I am sick from the day the tree comes in until it dies...

My allergist told me to "wash" the tree...

yes...

wash the tree...

I tried it once and it was a colossal pain in the you-know-what...

And after years of having no help with the live tree and getting the ex to help me get the tree out (and no not even once did he ever put an ornament on or take one off) I gave up and decided I needed a faux tree if I was going to survive...and not have a dead tree in the living room for the month of January...

Had I known I was marrying someone who would never ever help me with decorating for Christmas I might have saved myself a lot of aggravation...

The problem wasn't just that he wouldn't help...

it was that I kept expecting him to change and decide one year that he would help....

So it really wasn't his fault...he was as he was and he wasn't changing...

I was just frustrated that he wasn't changing...and I was wrong to expect it..

(so let's just add "wants to help decorate for Christmas" to my "this is what I want in a man" list along with dimples, blue eyes, looks a bit like Steve McQueen and drives a truck...yeah, that'll do...)

My ex-husband's mother had atrocious taste...like it was so bad you almost thought she was being ironic with it...so his memories of Christmas décor are all tied up in aluminum trees and ornaments that were so awful that they weren't even fun in a "these are so ugly they are cool" way...

it was just bad

like "are we being punked" bad...

and his cousin, who I totally love and adore, is one of those women you might find on a tv show about crazy Christmas décor because literally every room in her house (and garage) has a tree in it and there is a theme to every room...and snow village houses in every room...and the most amazing humongous snow village set-up in the garage.

It is jaw-dropping

When she and her girlfriend were building the house they put in extra plugs for the Christmas décor and built a storage room for it all.

They even have a village in their bathroom...they cover the tub with plywood and put a village in there...and a gorgeous Victorian themed tree in their bedroom

not kidding

it's awesome...and I miss going to their house at Christmas and admiring it all...

I came from a family that had every room perfectly decorated (I think my mom had decorators help when I was young) and it was all perfectly coordinated and gorgeous...and the whole house always had lights on outside...perfectly outlining the roof...

my mother often hosted Holiday teas when I was young and so the house was perfectly done...

my mom had fairly flawless taste and she made a lot of wreaths and could get her entire house decorated in a matter of hours...

One year she moved into a new house in early-mid December and discovered her tree wouldn't fit and had accidently stored some of her décor

so she went out and bought a new tree and had the house completely ready for Christmas 3 days after moving in

not kidding...

So when I became an adult and got married and had my own house I wanted to be like my mom...

I wanted lights on the outside...and because I am afraid of heights I knew I would never get them on the roof...and the ex was having nothing to do with it nor would he let me pay someone to do it.

So I found lights I could put into stakes and line the driveway...

except we didn't have power out there at the time...

sigh...

I continued to decorate for my own pleasure and then when the kids came I decorated to add to their joy of the holiday...

and for a few years I got some help out of the kids but for the most part they would stick on a few ornaments and get quickly bored.

A couple of years ago The Cutest Boy in the World had a darling little girlfriend.  She was adorable and she was Jewish.

She had never decorated a Christmas tree...

So with her parent's blessing she, and her sweet mama, came over and she and her mom helped me put some ornaments on the tree.

She had a great time and it was fun sharing a tradition with someone who had not experienced it before....and when my son broke up with her I think I was as heartbroken as she was...

When my mother passed away all the joy of the holidays left me...

I couldn't face decorating at all...and putting out the decorations I had gotten from her was more than I could bear...

So we went to Disneyworld and enjoyed their décor...

This went on for a couple of years...the only décor I put out was the stockings...that was it...

Weirdly the kids didn't care and the ex was relieved I wasn't whining about him not helping me...

and he was overjoyed that the 400 (ok not 400 but it seemed like it) little lit porcelain houses were not having to be on display and me spending all my time setting up perfect Snow Villages...

But once we split up I decided that I was going to find my joy again and since I had always done it alone I could handle it myself...

So I bought a new tree and decorated to my hearts content...

and the year I had my surgery the day after Xmas my housekeeper gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another...

SHE PUT AWAY ALL MY CHRISTMAS STUFF FOR ME

yes, I wept with joy at that one...

I have great memories of holiday decorating during my childhood.

It was always a big deal when we got to drive to Corpus Christi and go pick out a huge tree for the house.  My dad almost never came with us because he loved waiting in the driveway to "receive" the tree and tell us what a great job we did picking it out...

he was only unhappy with our choice one year because we desperately wanted a flocked tree and he hated them...

I think I remember my mom going back for a green one...

My dad loved decorating the tree...

and each and every year he would break at least one ornament

My mom had purchased some ornaments back in the 60's that were apparently outrageously expensive (in my father's eyes) and quite delicate...

mind you these were not Radko's...and as I recall there were about 2 dozen of them and they were hideous (or at least I remember them as hideous but at the time they may have been pretty)

They were class oblong shaped with gold tinsel twisted inside of them

and every single year my dad dropped one and it would break

every.single.year.

I think he did it on purpose

When my parents divorced and we moved to Houston my mom didn't put out some of the ornaments like that for many years...I think it made her sad...

But when I came home from college one year I found a box of ornaments we hadn't touched in years and brought it out....

we had a great time reminiscing about the ornaments in the box and we put them on the tree...including the one surviving ornament of the ones my dad broke...

the year he died (1984) we were heartbroken to open the box and find some of the ornaments were broken

and smashed, in the bottom of the box, was the last of the gold tinsel ornaments he hated so much

I think Daddy had the last laugh

I burst into tears and then started to laugh so much I think I actually pee'd myself...

it was like a sweet little message from him letting us know he was still with us...

and he still hated those ornaments...

I don't have but one ornament that I put on the tree left over from my childhood...

it is a "sputnik"

(and for those of you too young to understand it is an ornament that is basically a small center ball with beaded pins sticking out from it...so it looked like the Russian space satellite)

I made it along with my friends Merry Mary Lee and Joyful Janet...Joyful Janet's mom helped us make them and we had such fun doing them

And I hope Merry Mary Lee and Joyful Janet still have theirs...because I always think of them when I see mine...

I used to do a tree entirely done with purple ornaments (because it is my favorite color)...it was obnoxious...

it was in my living room and it looked like drag queens and showgirls had a brawl and the tree was the result of that fight...

it sparkled

My tree in my den was always ornaments I had collected on our travels and gifts from friends...

this year I am going to combine the drag queen purple with the Radko and travel explosion and see how it turns out...

if the movers can locate my stuff...

It's fun having a new place to decorate...and Dragon is more than ready to climb all over the greenery and décor...

It needs to look a little more like Christmas here in Casa Bonita...I want to remember the joy I had with my parents and even though they aren't here to celebrate the holidays with me I have the memories of those times from my past and I know that they are sending me their love from heaven

and I just now purchased 4 vintage ornaments on eBay...they aren't EXACTLY like the ones my Daddy broke but they are as close to them as possible...

because I don't want it to just look like Christmas here...I want it to look like my childhood too so I can have my Mom and Daddy with me this year and always....

Inspiration Song: "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" written by Meredith Wilson (yes I found a way to sneak musical theater in---he wrote "The Music Man").  Various artists have recorded it and my favorites are Bing Crosby, Perry Como and Michael Buble's versions...because I am hoping that by writing this I will be inspired to get my decorating done ASAP...

Bye Darlings...is it beginning to look a lot like Christmas at your house?  It's snuck up on me this year and before we know it, it will be here...and so will Hanukkah...so may this season bring you blessings and the delights of childhood...and only one broken ornament or two...