Haul Out the Holly and Put Up the Tree!

I made the decision back in July to put up every Christmas decoration I had this year. I even wanted to start playing my Christmas music then.

I guess it was my way of saying, “let’s end the year 2020 already”.

This year has been a year that none of us will ever forget. I knew then that we “needed a little Christmas” and I was going to haul out EVERY “holly” in my 15-year collection of ornaments and tinsel. I had no plan… I just knew that if I couldn’t hang it… it was going to donate it. Nothing was going to be left in the boxes this year.

Sometimes you don’t know how an idea will succeed, but you believe in it and stick to it, and, sometimes, somehow, it works out….

The girls and I snuck out of the house to go shopping a day or two before Thanksgiving. I know…I know… stay out of the stores, shop online, the COVID numbers are increasing! But my girls had to get out. School is virtual, church is virtual, no sports for them…they needed the escape.

We didn’t pretend like things were normal though. I took them to one store – FiveBelow (actually I took them twice – the first time we walked in and immediately turned around because the store was too crowded for my comfort level. We drove around, ate lunch on the go, picked up our online grocery order, and then went back when it wasn’t a peak time of day for the store).

FiveBelow is like the “Bloomingdale’s” of Dollar Stores. I used to be able to take my girls to the local Dollar Tree and let them spend a few dollars. That would satisfy them for weeks with little knickknack toys and trinkets.

Now that title goes to FiveBelow.

They told me they had to “level up”.

While in the store, my oldest grabbed a 3 foot Christmas Tree that she saw someone decorate for their room on TicToc. When I saw the deal, I ran over to the Christmas decorations and grabbed the last two. I honestly would have grabbed more if there were more! (After all, I was trying to hang EVERY ornament this year)

For the first time ever, I have managed to hang EVERY ornament in my collection. There are wreaths on multiple doors hanging inside and out. I did NOT go with a theme this year! It wasn’t “all red”, or “all-white”, or “pink/green and gold”, or “white lights only”, or any of the latest color combinations in the department stores… none of that! I wanted it ALL! NO order! NO theme! NO “matchy-matchy”!

We did not hold back this year, and I love it! I honestly can not remember a year that my Christmas décor looked any better.

It makes me wonder why I didn’t make an effort to hang everything every year!?

Why do we hold back for the sake of “routine” and “order”?

If you are a person that evenly distributes the ornaments on your tree, and your decorations have a logical theme every year… I DARE you to live a little and let it ALL hang out! (literally… let all of your decorations hang out this year!!)

Little POW-wow, Pearls of Wisdom