Monday, November 16, 2020

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

It may only be mid-November, but it's looking like Christmas in our house. This is extremely early for us to decorate. I'm typically "give Thanksgiving its due before decorating." But this year is different. Plus, we are having a baby the week after Thanksgiving, so who knows how I will be feeling Thanksgiving weekend. When we got our first snowfall in October, Pablo said "It's Christmastime!" No idea how he already has that association between snow and Christmas, but he had a point. It does feel like Christmastime. I've even seen outside decorations - and I'm not mad about it. Is there anything more cheery than holiday lights on these dark nights? We will still have a special Thanksgiving, although it will be different with just the 3 of us. I bought some November/Thanksgiving books so we are making sure the holiday doesn't get lost in the shuffle!

Since I didn't have flares in my hands this weekend, it seemed like the perfect time to decorate. I assembled the tree during nap and decorated the top 2/3s with our breakable ornaments and then let Pablo decorate the bottom 1/3 when he woke up. He only ended up hanging a couple of ornaments but he pointed out where we should put things. 


My MIL Joan sent us these adorable felted kitty ornaments. I didn't have a lot of kid-friendly ornaments, so this helped us build out that collection.  


We also put up this little felt tree that Joan gave us last year. Pablo did not really understand what to do with this last year, but he loves it this year. He's already re-decorated it multiple times. It's something I never would have thought to buy since I'm not a shopper... but I am glad my MIL thought to buy this for him as I think he'll love it for years to come. Plus it's nice for him to have his own little tree.


If I'm feeling good next weekend, my plan is to get our outdoor planters and maybe do our window boxes. It wasn't possible this past weekend as I had flares in my hip and ankle that made walking difficult so I had no interest in going to a large greenery. But hopefully next weekend is better - fingers and toes crossed. Worst case scenario, I will buy the planters and materials and have my mom decorate when they come to watch Paul. She did 100% of the decorating last year as they were here for Thanksgiving so it won't be much of a change from last year! ;) 

It's amazing what the glow of a tree can do for a person's mood so I am definitely glad we switched things up and decorated early. Between Covid stress (our numbers and positivity rate are terrible here), grief from the loss of Phil's brother, and just a general feeling of this year being off, I need that warm glow of the tree! 

If you celebrate Christmas, when do you plan to decorate? 

10 comments:

As Told By Felicia said...

Those ornaments and felt tree are adorable! Best of luck with your delivery, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Marlys said...

You are so ahead of the game, but a good plan so you can devote December to getting to know the little one! It will be such a good feeling to have this all done. I wish I could say the same, but hopefully after Thanksgiving we’ll get started. I’m always so behind everyone but usually get it done.
I love the tree for Paul! That is so cool! It will help him get into the spirit. And the kitty ornaments are perfect!
I hope I can help you when I come, so save something for me!

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

I do celebrate but do not decorate! My mom is a huge Christmas buff and my parents put up all kinds of things, including homemade reindeer and elves (made from plywood - cut by my dad and painted by Mom)! They go whole hog! I usually just put a string of timed lights in my window, which IS nice to come home to on those dark nights!

I think your felt tree is an advent calendar. We have one just like it that my aunt made and even to this day, my brother and I take turns putting up the last ornament on Christmas Eve! The 1st of December is a star and the 24th is a Santa ornament and we always swapped the two each year (evens and odds).

Jeanie said...

It's so pretty, Lisa! I love seeing little boys decorate a tree. I'm glad you did it early so you don't have to deal with it right before or after the baby comes. The planters sound pretty. When will your mom arrive? Please be very careful these next few weeks. I know -- preaching to the converted. But it's ugly out there these days and I want you and this baby safe -- before, during and after he is born! Celebrate those lights. They help.

I'll start officially on the day after TG but since it's just us, I will probably gently take down some of TG that morning (things in spots not so "obvious!") and bring things to the guest room sometime this week or next so I can just start to get some things out. I might hang some lights earlier for the same reason as you -- I need these lights in the dark days of November and Covid. Rick's elderly aunt has it and his next door neighbor/tenant. We are being very careful. You do too!

Grateful Kae said...

The tree looks great!! So pretty. I haven't gotten around to doing anything Christmas yet- in fact, our orange Halloween lights are still up inside!! Oops. But I think this weekend we will start. I usually decorate A LOT. Outside, inside, our basement rec room (which is where we traditionally do Christmas Eve stuff around our bar)..the boys have little trees in each of their rooms too, which they are always SUPER excited to get out. It's quite the process for me to decorate everything, so I usually do it in little chunks. The tree always feels like a big productive since I need to move an endtable out/ push the couch back, etc to open the space up, and dealing with the lights can be a hassle!! But I definitely would like to get it up ASAP. So, maybe Friday night should be the night!! :)

Stephany said...

I started decorating this weekend, too! It's the earliest I've ever decorated (although I think I decorated early last year, but that was because I was going on a cruise right after Thanksgiving). It's so nice to have a cheery Christmas tree in my apartment.

I love that little felt tree! And it gives Paul something to occupy his time with, so all the better, hehe. :)

And hooray for no flares in your hands this weekend!

Anne said...

Late comment - again. Sigh. But I just needed to say YAY for no flares in your hands, and for being able to decorate. I think we can all use some extra (and extra-early!) cheer this year. You should have SUCH a fun time with Pablo. What a wonderful age for Christmas. (And add a newborn in the mix... you will have a really memorable one!)

Gracie said...

I agree - Christmas decorations absolutely lift my spirits. I am always sad to take them down! I love Paul's little tree. It's nice for kids to have their own little traditions to make the holiday personal for them. Sometimes I think even the kid-centric traditions rely heavily on adult help/involvement/timing ("Let's make Christmas cookies this morning"), and as kids get older they like to have their own special thing!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

We're going to decorate this coming weekend. I'm excited for the house to look cozy and colourful. It's been a year ... I'm ready to ring in 2021, and I hope it brings only good things.

Charbelle said...

I love the little felt tree!!! My mom had one of those when we were growing up! Michael had the tree up earlier this week and I decorated Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Charlotte hung maybe 4 ornaments and then she was done. I love our memories, we buy an ornament from each place we travel whenever we can so our tree if full of places we have visisted. I wish we had thought about this while we were engaged and I would have an ornement from MN. I guess i just need to figure out another visit :) We typically decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving and help my Mom decorate. I was thinking this morning how thankful I am that last year Charlotte and I spent the night with my parents Thanksgiving night and helped decorate Friday. I didn't know that would be my last time helping to decorate that house. The lake house is still crazy with boxes so Mom isn't quite ready to decorate yet. I'll go down and help her when she is ready and we will watch the holiday movies that I love that Michael complains about!