Christmas is Here at Last

If you read my post about Christmas music, you may already know that I am a huge fan of the holiday in general. I love the way everyone is thinking about others, I love the music, I love spending time with my family, and I really love the decorations. I have a long history of taking whatever crappy little apartment I live in and, with the help of my excellent friends, turning it into a Christmas wonderland. One year, we had a Christmas tree that was bright enough to read by. It was amazing.
Now that I have a spacious, pretty house instead of a crappy little apartment, I've really been looking forward to the Christmas decorating. I have been trolling Pinterest for ideas for weeks, and when we moved in, one of the first things I did was plan for where we'd put the Christmas tree.
Normally, I bust out the decorations on Friday after Thanksgiving, and that night my tree is burning brightly for all the world to see. This year, though, after hosting the big family dinner, most of Friday was spent cleaning. When that was done I really didn't relish the idea of hauling a bunch of boxes up from the basement to decorate. Then, on Saturday I wanted to enjoy my first chance to relax in about a week, and on Sunday I was running around to family dinners and orchestra practice.
All of this means I didn't get my tree up last weekend, and I felt like a Christmas fraud. I, who normally spreads the Christmas spirit around to others, couldn't even find the time to get my decorations up? Well, I put a stop to that Monday night. I came home from work, found all the boxes (we moved since last Christmas so I had to hunt through several different storage areas), and filled my house with Christmas joy.
Of course, I'm just getting started. I still plan on putting lights up outside, and I'm going to do a great deal more decorating inside. But the most important things are taken care of. The tree is up and beautiful, and the stockings are hung with care. But you don't have to take my word for it, here's the proof!