Deck the~~~~great room!

I just love this time of year! It is usually such a positive and festive time. Mind you, there have been years that were a little 'stretched', which most of us have had, but overall it's wonderful!
I am not one of these people that must follow ever-changing 'themed' decorating from year to year. I follow the same tradition year after year (...after year...after year...). One year, being out of sorts for whatever reason, I tried a red/white/blue theme; didn't like it so much and returned to the usual. I absolutely love annual traditions!!
There is a certain order to decorating our home for the holidays; there is absolutely NO OCD involved ;-). This begins with a post-Thanksgiving day cleaning on Black Friday (how appropriate). Then we set out to the nearest Christmas tree farm to carefully select the perfect Griswold tree. We've chosen trees in all shapes and sizes over the years. After we've allowed the tree a long drink of water, it's time to apply the lights. With Christmas music playing in the background I begin the light application process.  This starts with plugging in the strings of lights to make sure they are all working. If not, you know what must be done; the painful process of figuring out which one is the culprit!! Again, there is a certain way to place lights on a tree. And, again, we've done this several different ways to try to discover which works best. Do you go round and round, up and down, or in and out? We use all of the above! Start with in (near the trunk)/round and round, followed by out/round and round. If there are 'leftovers' at the end, they go up and down. It works for us! Just white lights...
With lights placed and turned on, I place the skirt at the base. This, at least, makes me feel like I'm ALMOST finished. I happily begin lovingly placing each ornament in the perfect place on the tree. We do not have just one color or one style. Many are the handmade creations of our children when they were small. It takes me forever to put ornaments on because I stop and look at each one and remember back to when my grown children were precious little ones! I love these memories. A few are ones that hubby surprised me with, as he knows just how much I love this time of year. Others, are special, having been purchased in honor or memory of loved ones. Still others represent friendships and places of our past. This year, the stash was a little lighter. Last year as I was taking down the decorations, I decided to make separate Christmas 'starter' boxes for the girls. In the box, I placed different items that they particularly wanted along with a stocking and ornaments. Keep in mind that mommy kept the ones that are very, very dear to her heart!! Daddy loved putting icicles on the tree! NOW I know where I got my OCD!!! Like everything else, there is only one way to apply icicles to the tree----one by one and strategically placed...I DO NOT apply icicles.
I finalize the decorating tradition with windows, shelves, and doors. I have a Santa Claus shelf, a snowman shelf, and several shelves devoted to the real reason for Christmas. I love nativity representations and have several different ones throughout the house. Don't want to leave out my few little nutcrackers.
Once all this is complete, which usually takes a couple of days, I sit down to enjoy and start working on sending out Christmas cards and begin the 'goody' cooking.
This is such a great time of year. Time for family and friends to come together, leaving the stress and troubles of the world behind and enjoy just being with each other. This year, like all the ones before since we've had children, we will make the annual trek to Florida to see grand-parents (and friends) and enjoy their annual bar-b-q! Did I mention I love this time of year?!
Blessings to you and yours this Christmas season.....

Blessings... G.R.I.T.S. (Girl Raised In The South)