Holiday Spirit

I absolutely love making our house look beautiful for the holidays. Some of my favorite memories from being a kid are the nights we spent decking the halls, the walls, the tree, and everything else possible for Christmas. My dad would haul our well-worn cardboard boxes full of ornaments, lights, and garlands out of the basement, and every year I felt the same thrill of rediscovering my 'favorite' Christmas decorations.

Joshua and I have amassed our own cardboard boxes and plastic tubs full of holiday decor, and it's all I can do to wait until after Thanksgiving to start stringing up lights and hanging up stockings. I've cheated once or twice when we were going out of town for Thanksgiving - just for the joy of coming back to a Christmasy home.

But my mom is coming into town this weekend, and we have never decorated for Christmas together here in Chicago. So we are waiting (patience isn't my thing, exactly) until Friday night to transform the condo into a winter wonderland.

It's making me crazy. Today I went downstairs into the storage room to just stare at "Christmas Corner", as Joshua calls our ever-growing collection. I tried to decide if I could just put out one snowman, or find one pine candle to light. At one point the holiday welcome mat I threw in the cart during our recent trip to Home Depot (again!) was actually in my hands.

I didn't do it. I'm more excited about having my mom here for all of it. And Joshua, of course. And Cari. And the zoo - the cats are relatively indifferent to the sudden glitzy changes in their world, but I think Helo is really going to be crazy over the tree and the lights and the ornaments. It's sweet and terrifying all at the same time.

Another terrifying - but really thrilling - twist to this years' holiday decorating is that our new camera should be delivered on Friday afternoon, just in time to document exactly what happens when a dog is confronted with a live tree in the comfort of his own living room. I'm taking bets on how quickly he pees on it.

Joshua and I took advantage of the Black Friday sales (from the comfort of our couch; I'm not much of a 4am crowd trampler) to find a great deal on a Canon Rebel T2i. I have less than no idea what I'll be doing with such a sophisticated camera, but I can't wait to start taking lovely, dreamy SLR photos. Even if it does takes me a month to learn anything other than the automatic settings, I'm just thrilled about how rarely I'm going to have to use the flash now!

Lately I've been feeling a little sore and a lot sluggish so the excitement of the holidays has been a wonderful distraction from that. As soon as this house is fully bedecked and bedazzled, I'm sure I will feel even better. It may be taking all the willpower I have not to start looping garlands down the stairwell right this minute, but I know I will appreciate the experience of getting ready for the holidays so much more with the people I love.

Pictures...shiny, beautiful PICTURES...to come!