Saturday, November 29, 2008

Fine, I decorated. Happy?

Bah Humbug. I love Christmas - being with family, eating lefse, the candlelight church service - those are the things I love. What don't I like? Decorating. Sorry, but it's true. So many people look forward to decorating and love opening each storage box and seeing each item again after so many months of being packed away (yes mom, I'm talking about you!). Me, not so much.

It's so much work . . . hauling box after box out of our basement storage room . . . carrying them upstairs . . . removing all of the "regular" stuff . . . DUSTING . . . ugh. I usually put it off and do anything else I can think of, but this year I decided to follow Nike's advice and Just Do It.

I started Friday afternoon and finished up Saturday afternoon - nonstop work. Heh. No, I managed to get sidetracked many times, so it didn't really take 24 hours nonstop. As I was going through the motions I realized that maybe I don't like decorating because I'm tired of the decorations that I have. I open each storage box, see each item and think, "Crap. Where the heck am I going to put this." The other reason that I don't enjoy decorating is because I'm a minimalist at heart, so I don't like having so much stuff around; it's just too cluttered for me. So here's what I did this year - I only put out things that I really love. The rest just went back in the box, and after Christmas when I pack it all away I'm going to get rid of LOTS of it. Yep, it's going to Goodwill. I'm also going to hit some after Christmas sales and buy some new things, or better yet I'm going to shop on Etsy for fun, new Christmas decorations. Maybe I'll enjoy it more next year.

I do have some things that I really love, and I'll share them with you here.


This is an authentic "spinner thingy". Ok, maybe that's not what it's called but let's just go with it. My parents bought this for me in Germany and I do love it. I know, I don't have the candles in it. Hmm, I wonder where they are. I like the Santa too; I bought him at an after Christmas sale years ago and he's still a favorite.


This is our center piece, made by my mom, and I love it because it's simple and the colors are pretty. I like birch trees.

How cool is this? This was made by the late Gary Wurdell; he was my boss for 6 years and passed away about 10 years ago. He was a very talented craftsman and he made this for me for Christmas one year while I was working for him. He cut it out on a band saw, can you imagine? It is truly one of my favorite things.

Here's our fireplace mantle all decorated for the Holidays. I love the mantle decorations; the colors are so pretty and it looks so homey. Also, my stocking (I'm Nancy) is the BIGGEST.


Here's close up of a couple of the ornaments hanging from the garland on the mantle. These are precious to me because they belonged to my Grandpa - Papa Olaf. I was lucky enough to get his box of ornaments and I love hanging them here rather than on our tree because they are easier to see. I also have some in a basket in the kitchen.

Speaking of a tree, that's still left to do. We always have a real tree, no taking it out of the box for us! However, that means that we like to wait a bit longer with the hope that when Christmas is over there might still be a needle or two left on the tree rather than on the carpet. I do enjoy decorating the tree and love having it lit in the evenings, even though there is a chance the whole thing could go up in flames leaving us homeless. That would certainly take care of all the decorations I'm tired of, wouldn't it??

Happy Holidays!

5 comments:

ella said...

Yes I am happy you decorated!! I'm also happy that "spinner thing" or better known as a German Christmas Pyramide is one of your favorite things!!

Peggy Smith said...

I'm with you. I wanted kids to haul in the boxes, didn't work. Thought I'd be done decorating Fri and after a million interruptions, it's Sunday afternoon and I'm still not done. Off to the football banquet.

Thanks for sharing your favorites, glad there is something to look forward to in those boxes.

Anonymous said...

I'm with you on Christmas decorating begrudery! It's not so much about getting it all out for display - which I must say you did very nicely - but the thought of getting it all put away...

Andrea Rooks said...

I love your minimalist approach -- I aspire to be a minimalist but I love stuff so much! Fortunately we live in a small house an storage is maxed out. Anyway, I love your spinny thingy -- I've always thought those were the neatest decorations! You've inspired me to decorate soon, maybe even tonight...

Unknown said...

You crack me up! I read this and then later that day I got a message from your mom telling me how much she loves to decorate! =) You guys made me laugh! We're debating on decorating this year since we will be gone for Christmas. Is it worth it?!? =)