It's That Time Again

I decorate the house for Christmas by myself.  There are several reasons why I do.

First of all Haley gets stressed out when we get out the Christmas decorations.  She likes them.  She actually likes them a little too much.  She wants them all opened at once and then she wants them put where they are going to go right away.  She acts like she is having fun, but after a couple of hours at it she burns out and goes in to melt down mode.  I like to avoid that.

Secondly I get stressed out when Haley "helps" me (see above.)  I tend to put things in different places every year.  I usually have rearranged the furniture during the year or bought some new things.  If you were to look at pictures of past Christmases you would see vast differences from year to year.  So Haley wanting me to put things where they go quickly doesn't work for me.  I put things in place and then I move them around, it's a process.  One that I enjoy doing by myself, without stress.

Third, I love the reaction I get when she gets home from school and sees everything up.

I always choose a day that I can devote completely to the task, because I like to take my time.  I usually have about seven hours to take down and put away the Fall decorations and then get out, put up and rearrange the Christmas decorations and then put away the empty boxes.  I work right up to the last minute and then quickly vacuum and sweep and watch for Haley's bus.

Tonight I went out to get her and as we walked toward the house she said "Ooooh. Christmas."  She had seen the swag on the front door.  Then she said "Cute." when she saw the doormat.  As she came in the house there were a series of comments for everything she saw.  "Snowman. Santa. Ooooh. Cute.  Christmas.  Candle."  This year I got a new Nativity scene and I had it set up right on top of the mantle.  She went up to it and talked about the donkey and the sheep and the wise men and the angel and so on.  She decided it was cute.  She went around the entire house looking at everything and commenting on it all. 

I think she appreciates what I do and it works so much nicer this way.  No stress.