Merry Christmas!

I'm looking out my window and all I see is trees with beautiful leaves on them, the color of ochre, soon to be
brown. To me that is an indication of fall, not so much the holiday season, the result of living in central Texas.
In order to get in the spirit of Christmas I decorate my home as soon as Thanksgiving is over. I always start slow, almost not wanting to do much, slowly bringing boxes down from the attic and selecting just a few things. But seeing all the decorations gets me excited and the pace gets faster and soon I want the presence of things representing Christmas in every corner of my home. The Nativity collection on the china cabinet, the big tree loaded with 20 years of collected ornaments in the living room. Then the small tree finds a place in the corner of the TV room. And I keep finding places for all those things that bring back memories of times by gone, like the nutcracker, a reminder of the years we all participated in the Nutcracker ballet or the snowmen by the kitchen window, reminding me of the years lived in colder climates.
Every year, before opening the Christmas boxes, I tease my family by telling them that I'm going to skip Christmas, but I know that if I were to do that I would regret it immediately.
Let's enjoy and celebrate,  Christmas happens only once a year.
Merry Christmas!