Day 53 - The Holidaze

OK - raise your hand if you have an entire room dedicated to storing your holiday decorations. OK - you and you can leave, this post is clearly not for you. Now, you can't see me, but my hand is definitely not raised - we only have four rooms, so my decorations get approximately half a shelf in my husband's disaster area tool closet. Now, I come from a family who loooooooves decorating. Correction - my mother loves decorating. She has a banner for every season, garlands for every holiday, and at least three outfits for the goose. "The what?", you ask The goose. Many moons ago, my grandmother, for reasons known only to her, gave my mother a huge plastic goose that came with outfits (Santa, Easter Bunny, and a cow outfit - if you figure this one out, call me). In any case, it's just not a holiday unless the goose is correctly attired.

In any case, the birth of my child seems to have triggered the Seasonal Decorating Gene (and the Drink Lots of Eggnog Gene), and I find myself suddenly longing for wreaths on the door, tinsel icing the tree, and hundreds of ornaments for Sebastian to break. BUT. I cannot. I must not. I should be am committed! Here are my new guidelines:

- feature things that die so you don't have to store them (a centerpiece of pomegranates and green pears for example, or fall leaves taped to the window)
- keep what means the most (the Charlie Brown Christmas tree you've had since college, the lopsided angel ornament your niece knitted you out of old Barbie clothes, etc.)
- think thin and get creative (use up your fabric scraps to make seasonal wall hangings that store flat, table runners, etc.)
- set the stage with music. Face it - you can only really get away with Christmas carols for one month, so put that playlist on repeat and listen to "Santa Baby" until your ears bleed!

This is what I did for November:

Fancy leaves taped right on the window. Classy.



Tallulah the Turkey (sewn from my scrap bag)



I'll be sure to post pics when I've got the December stuff up. I figure I'll just lob some cranberries and a pine cone in a bowl and call it a day. Tomorrow, I'll tell you about today's adventures in bread baking. Hint: I haven't managed an edible loaf yet!