Holiday Cheer

My mother hates Christmas. Hates isn't even strong enough to describe the depths of her feelings towards the end of the year madness. It, no doubt, has to do with the fact that my father worked for the railroad and lived in a hotel more than our house, four crazy kids that required a crap-load of work and the Scrooge that lived downstairs.

September brought anniversaries and a break from kids as we marched single-file back to school, October birthdays, November gluttony and then the dread of holiday lunacy set in.......

I inherited this feeling but I'm working very hard to change it. Nurture over nature here.

Working.hard.on.it. Working very hard.

Step one: Acknowledge that the month of December will indeed come.
I did this last week. After 25% of the month had already slid by without me noticing.

Step two: Erect a tree.
Before getting married I had a beautiful tree. It was cheap and easy...just the way I liked it :) I took it out of the box and there it was. Done. My loving husband nearly spit his coffee through his nose when he first saw my "twig." He hated it. He gleefully unpacked his tree and I felt equal disdain for it's multi-colored LED lighty things. (UGH!) So....this year we bought a new tree. Fuller than my first and less colorful than Geo's. It was even prelit :) Bonus!

Step three: Decorate
The girls and I make a double batch of salt dough and cut out trees, reindeer and stars. Baked. Bought washable paint (brilliant invention. Who knew they had such a thing?) and brushes.
This was the most awesome holiday fun of my entire life. Honestly...things are looking up!

Sophia had so much fun painting. She's been begging to paint ever since she and Kristen mixed their first batch of homemade watercolors on the back porch back on The Farm. Step four: Light it up
I have been saving this step. I the tree only once to get this shot. Geo has been in Mississippi since we put the tree up and the girls barely noticed it in the morning. I wanted to keep it that way until I had another set of eyes home to help watch out for the falling tree.

Step five: Feel the warmth.

Maybe I'll enjoy this stuff afterall....