Christmas Decorating - Leaving Anal Behind

This year, an interesting year, I might add (more on that in a future post), I'm doing things a little differently.  Of course, this difference has manifested itself in many ways, big and small, and the most recent difference I noticed was in decorating for Christmas.

We usually like to get our tree, decorate it and the rest of the house, and put up Christmas lights outside the house the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Usually, we take two days to do it:  one day for the inside green and red extravaganza, and one day for the outside lighting fiesta.  This year, we traveled quite a bit around Thanksgiving, and Sunday afternoon was the only day we had free.  I'm a recovering anal retentive (in some cases), so I didn't even consider decorating on Sunday.  (Side note:  Chris did hang icicles that day because it was 70 degrees outside, and we figured better to be on the roof in 70-degree weather rather than when it was icy.  But he didn't do any of the other outside decorations.)

However, the girls did want to put up their little three-foot tree and the train set, so we dragged out the six-foot box (coffin-size) full of Christmas decorations, and we let them have at it.

Now, here's the first different part:  that box stayed out and in a state of disarray for two weeks.  Not only is that unlike me and something I wouldn't allow before, but having the box out didn't cause me to go into cardiac arrest.  As a matter of fact, unless I was looking at it, I forgot it was there.  Very unlike Dawn, who catalogs every undone, un-neat, un-made thing. 

Not this year.

Next, we got our tree and decorated it the first weekend of December.  We made a whole day out of going to the orchard, picking out our tree, bringing it home, and decorating it.  Then, that was it.  I have plenty of Christmas knickknacks, garland to hang on the banister, candles to place in the windowsills.  ::::shrug:::::  I didn't do any of that.  So, along with the Christmas coffin box of decorations, we had boxes of lights and just a general mishmash of STUFF around. 

No problem.

We finally got around to finishing the decorating inside and out on Sunday, and the boxes are all put away.  Two weeks - from start to finish.  I'm fine with that, but it just feels strange.  I know that it's unlike me (or at least, unlike the Dawn I used to be), and I'm just so surprised at myself.  It's like getting a radical new haircut, and you get surprised every time you look in the mirror.  I keep looking around going, "Hmm.  Who is this chick?"

Finally, the last thing I've noticed about my new personality quirks is that I put Christmas decorations in new places this year.  Usually, I pull out the knickknacks, and they go in the same places that they did last year (and the year before that and the year before that...).  This year, I put stuff in all new places, and I even chose not to put some of the decorations out.  Now, while this feels strange to me (remember the title of this post - "Leaving Anal Behind"), I wonder if I'm finally entering the world of normal people.  My question to you is - when you decorate, does everything go in the exact same place, or do you shake things up?

Comments

[Stacy Brice]

Times, they are a changin'. Welcome to the era of the new Dawn, you!

Now, for me, decorating is never the same two years in a row. I think that's shaking things up, in your way of thinking, but for me, that's just normal.

This year, for instance, the whole of it involves lights strung over the patio door, and around the TV table. Oh, and a wreath on the front door, mistletoe hanging over the entrance to the kitchen, and a Christmas cactus on the coffee table (although it's dying and I think I'll get another this weekend to replace it).

That's it.

I'm playing lots of non-traditional music, watching non-traditional movies, and generally just being with the season.

Good for you for doing something different; I can't wait to see!!

[Antonette]

I love Christmas, but I hate decorating. It's just like traveling to me. I love to go, and am ready to leave most times, because I hate to unpack my suitcase. So, it stays packed for weeks after I return home. (It's still packed now!)

Well, it's the same with the Christmas decorations. I love to see the decorations, but I hate having to put them away. So, every year I put on my front door one of two Christmas wreaths and I'm done! Then for my real fix I can just pick a sister (I have two) to visit; they both put up 2 Christmas trees. One upstairs for seeing through the window and one downstairs where all the gifts go. (Now, that's a lot to pack away.)

Oh, I do pull out ALL my Christmas movies (The Muppets Christmas Carol is at the very very top of that stack) and my Christmas music is blaring from Thanksgiving through January 1.

xoxo