Monday, December 1, 2008

Ho ho holy crap I have a lot of Christmas decorations!

I've started with the Christmas decorating and it's really amazing the amount of things I have. I've always been very into decorating for Christmas because for all the years that we lived in The City, we participated in a "Holiday Open House" for our street and thousands of people would visit each year. It was pretty exciting and I will say that I'm pretty sure my house was one of the best as far as decorations go.

So now I have a much bigger house but still an exorbitant amount of decorations. I also got half of my mom's decorations this weekend. The Sister and I went to The Dad's house and divided them all up. I thought it was going to be difficult but it actually turned out to be kind of fun. We laughed about all the stuff my mom had (now I know where I get it) and we divided it all up and donated some. (Nurse it out Cathy! ...sorry inside joke!) My dad kept very few items, he's never been into all the hoopla of Christmas decorating anyway. I think he was happy to see it being put to good use and he enjoyed being the Official Straw Holder when The Sister and I had to draw straws over a "big ticket item". I ended up with some great old ornaments, a huge beautiful Lennox platter and all the kitschy 50's decorations I wanted although I had to give up the ceramic tree for those. The Sister ended up with most of the things she wanted too. It worked out great. Then I brought it all home. Get a load of those swell 70s boxes. Those ornament chests have been around at least as long as I have...


Here it is after The Husband unloaded it into the garage.


Here's what I had already in my basement.

Here's The Son's reaction to all of it in the dining room.


No, he's not the least bit dramatic...why would you say that?

So, the trees are done...more or less. We have a 9 footer in our foyer and a 6 footer in the family room. I have enough ornaments left that I could probably fill another entire tree but I'm still loading them on the 9 footer as I unpack them. I DO like a lot of ornaments on a tree and they are looking very beautiful. I am having my favorite cousin visit this weekend and I'm hoping to have the decorating pretty much finished. We'll see how it goes, between feeding the child, wrestling shoes out of the mouth of my puppy and uploading all these pictures, not much has gotten done today. I also have to teach swimming in an hour or so but I remain hopeful, it's only Monday right? Happy beginning of the holidays!



10 comments:

Darlene said...

What fun to get all that sentimental stuff!! Your tree looks so pretty. I am having a heck of a time with a kitten in the house. We keep pulling our stuff up further and further on the tree. Can't even put the tree skirt under it cause the kitten is wreaking havoc!!! I can't wait to see more and more of your beautiful Christmas decorations!

Always Smiling said...

Great Stuff, Caren! I'm jealous.

Laura @ the shorehouse. said...

This is our first Christmas in the shore house (we've kept the city apartment, at least for now) and I'm petrified to think of what I can/likely will accumulate now with proper storage (we refer to the house sometimes as our "half a million dollar storage unit." Funny...but not.). As it is, I have enough ornaments for two trees myself...but you *do* have two trees...Hmmm...little pea brain wheels here are turning...

Erin Leigh said...

From what I have seen everything is beautiful. I loved going through my Grandmothers Christmas decs with my sister.

Good luck getting it done!!

Anonymous said...

Caren - can't wait to see pictures of it all when it's finished! You have so much more ROOM to decorate now!

Nikki said...

I seriously had to bust a gutt! My mom has boxes decorated with 70's wrapping paper too! Funny :D
I can't wait to see more of your decorations.

Love A's good reactions.

Cathy said...

LOL!!! Really funny sis! I love it. It made me smile today. I absolutely love the pics of The Nephew! They totally have me cracking up!!

I have to say it was fun. I have a very special birdie chirping away in my family room right now.....can you hear it????? ;)

Buffy said...

I think it's great that you and Sis went through the old decorations and are using them. Your mom would LOVE that. I want to see pics of the trees!

Liz Harrell said...

Your son's reaction picture made me snicker. I didnt even put out all my decorations out this year. Too tired I guess. :)

Shell in your Pocket said...

How fun..You do have a lot of decorations..Wow!!!

I tag you!!! Please do the Christmas tag..it was fun!
-sandy toes