It's Beginning to Look Kinda Sorta Like Christmas

I haven't really been in the Christmas spirit this year. It greatly annoyed me when the people up the street put up their lights on November 14th. It annoyed me further to see that it was apparently contagious. Other than craft projects that take time to do, I don't believe in anything Christmas until after Santa has made his way to Harold Square to end the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I hate how commercialized everything is and I hate that Thanksgiving gets lost in the jumble of Halloween and Christmas. (And I am really not happy that I saw Valentine's Day cards on display the other day. Seriously people).

So as I have been watching everyone's displays of lights go up, I have had a very bah, humbug attitude about the whole thing. Last night however, the neighbors behind me put up their lights. Because the back of my house faces the back of their house, I can only see a small sampling of lights from my office window. They put up a simple strand of light and dark blue lights, just like last year, and they look so pretty. That made me feel a little more festive.

This morning, I braved the cold to take the boys to have pictures taken with Santa. That was an ordeal, as taking them anywhere always is. (I will blog more about that next weekend when I get the pictures. They were done by a professional, and I will be getting a CD with 12 pictures). This is my third attempt at pictures with Santa; I am hoping to finally get one good one.

I had been planning to do this for a few weeks. But other than sending presents to my family, that was all I was planning to do for Christmas. I wasn't even going to do my holiday baking this year. After we got back today, however, I found myself feeling much more in the spirit of things and dug out the totes to put away the Halloween decorations. (Yes, those were still up. No one ever comes over so there wasn't really a rush to take them down). While I was at it, I got out the Christmas totes. One tote is all lights; the other is decorations. I put up a few decorations. I switched out my candles in the kitchen so they are now green, white and red instead of just green and white. Most of my decorations are for the tree, however, and I decided that next weekend, I am going to get a tree. I may have to get myself a couple of presents to put under it while I am at it. I could really use a Snuggie...