Merry Ho-Ho

Yes, kids, the Christmas season is upon us and time to deck the halls or whatever.

In the Blogger household that means putting up the fake tree, decorating with assorted Christmas do-dads and most importantly, the hanging of the Christmas calendar:

I doubt that these pictures can do this calendar justice. My Mom made the entire thing out of felt, assorted ribbon and large wooden beads in the early 80's (possibly the late 70's). Its about 2ft in height, little over 1ft in width. It hung year after year in my family's house and me and my sister took turns putting a decoration up for each day until the final ornament that would go up Dec 24th. A few years ago I received the calendar from my Mom to continue on with the tradition of hanging it up Dec 1st each year. I was very honoured and I get constant complements and questions as to where I got such a calendar. It's nice when you have something that no one else has and even nicer when it was made by your own Mom. Good job, Mom.

As we continue you around the Blogger household...

Uhm...Feliz Navidad? lol

The 50cent ceramic Mexican from the 1950's that sits on the counter in my kitchen. I figure he might like to get a little festive. Merry Ho-Ho, Pedro!

I think I got this in Walmart or Zellers.

A little Christmas decor flung around the livingroom. Yes. Those are indeed fish-shaped Christmas stocking on the wall. They have inserts on the front where you can put a pic of your cat. I think they were about $10 each in Walmart a couple years back. 

You gotta love 'em, eh? So cute. And 3M Command hangers are great for Christmas decor without doing any wall damage.

And finally....the tree:

Nothing crazy, nothing fancy, just a 6' faux tree from Canadian Tire that I think I spent $50 on a few years back. Decorated with ornaments from Sears and the dollar store. With the cats around and their usual curiosity of shiny things, having the ornaments be easily replaceable is a good thing.

Besides, I'm not one of those people that obsesses over Christmas decor. I like it. I like that it gets me in the official Christmas spirit but it has never been the focus in my life or my family's when I was a kid. It was about family getting together, remembering to take the time to be thankful for all the good things in life and just that warm feeling you get when you snuggle up on a chilly winter night and watch the glow of the lights. When you are a kid I think the focus is more on the presents that you get, but I find as you get older, you begin to see Christmas as what it should be - a time to feel blessed.

Merry Christmas!