Caved in

Okay, I caved. The peer pressure was too much and I started decorating 2 weeks earlier than I intended to. It's pretty hard to do your Christmas shopping and order Christmas cards and make lists when you can't actually enjoy the non-work side of the season. Or at least that's my excuse. Besides, I know for a fact that I'm definitely not the first person to start buying decorations. Even the church already has the Advent wreath hanging up--and even if it's meant to be an Advent wreath, as opposed a Christmas wreath, it's looks pretty darn festive to me. So I hung up my fir garlands and put up a string of lights.

Now I have a bigger house I feel the need to buy more decorations to fill the place, which is probably not the right spirit. But I won't be putting my tree up till Christmas Eve so I think that makes up for it a bit. Also I'm incredibly picky about about my decorations so I won't be tempted by any old Christmas kitsch. Fir garlands aren't cheap--or easy to put up, so I won't be indulging in any more of those this year. I think. But a few more lights would be nice, especially since half the house is unlit mostly, except for a small table lamp and floor lamp. Also I'm hosting Christmas this year so I feel the need to make it as festive as I can, without going overboard. As it is my decorations are very restrained. Just a couple of fir garlands and some ribbons and bows. That's not too much right? That plus the tree with ornaments I've been collecting year after year as a St. Nicholas Day present from my parents since I was born.

I already bought Theo his ornament for his St. Nicholas day-- actually I bought two and I'm debating which one to give him. Starbucks did the cutest wee corduroy reindeer with button-on legs, but I had already bought a knitted cat ornament--wearing scarf and checkered jumper. I'm such a sucker. Boh are fairly unbreakable, though if he wanted to pull bits off the cat he probably could. I shall have to ask Greg's opinion. Probably he'll think both of them are worthy of vomiting on.

Anyway I'm a big pathetic sucker. Make me feel guilty. Taunt me about my materialistic, non-Orthodox, commercial Christmas addiction. BUT at least I do not decorate my house with the following:

Dancing, rockstar Santas
Nasty cartoon window decals of snowmen or trees with faces
Penguins on ice skates
The colours pink or purple
light-up lawn ornaments
blow-up lawn ornaments, that also move
psychadelic flashing fiber-optic trees
Anything that makes "music" of it's own accord
Elves
Anything fuzzy

I'm sure I'll think of more scary Christmas kitsch as the season goes on. Heck I'll probably see it. Willowbrook Mall changed their decoration the second year I worked there over Christmas to nasty 80's purple and red. And they installed tvs in the pillars of Santa's purple-and-red palace so kids could watch Christmas specials while they waited to have their pictures taken. *Shudder*

I'm pretty old-fashioned about my decorating tastes I suppose (I don't even like tinsel garlands really) but in my mind decorations are for making your surroundings more homey and cozy and festive-- not give you impression that you just took some really scary drugs. If it looks like it could be part of an acid trip then maybe give it a miss huh?

Of course there is a part of me that finds really really nasty cheesy tree ornaments appealing-- but only as something to show people for a laugh...