I have friends who post the weeks until Christmas starting in July. I love Christmas, but I'm not ready for that in the summer.
I am however ready for it at the beginning of November and I feel more ready than normal this year. Why, you may ask? We are going to be traveling for Thanksgiving this year. We'll be going to spend Thanksgiving in Florida with Tim's mom this year. (thanks to great house/animal sitters!)
We'll get back to Christmas in a moment, but let me explain about Thanksgiving for a minute. When we decided that this is when we would go to Florida, I said to Tim, "I can pack up my dishes and candlesticks and take everything that I would use on our table here to use there." He looked at me and said, "Would you be willing to use the really nice disposables from Costco, like we used for Lindsay's wedding?"
That question changed everything. You see, I recognized in that moment that this Thanksgiving would be different, and while it will still be about Thankfulness and Family, we have the freedom to do something new. My sister in law and her husband will be in New York for Thanksgiving this year, so only Tim's mom and our niece and her daughter will be around. I first realized we could go very casual, especially since we are traveling and Tim's mom would not care at all.
This is big for me because for Thanksgiving I love the china, and crystal and cloth napkins and candelabras. The idea of using paper plates or nice disposables would normally be disdained by me. But now I was thinking about it and what we could cook in Tim's moms' tiny kitchen. Then a real light bulb hit me. What if we all go out to eat for Thanksgiving?
I don't know what we'll do exactly, but we'll be together and we'll be thankful. (my parents and Nate and Kay and the girls are coming too!)
All this leads back to my thinking about Christmas. Our Canadian friends and family never worry about when to decorate for Christmas because their Thanksgiving is in early October. With our Thanksgiving being late in November we don't get as much time to enjoy our decor, even though we leave some things up until after Epiphany.
I don't decorate until after Thanksgiving every year, because it would be weird to have a Thanksgiving feast with Christmas decor all around us. BUT, if we will not be here for Thanksgiving...
What do you think? Should I begin to decorate before we leave for Florida? Then when we get back, we'll be set to enjoy the Christmas season?
What would you do?
I am however ready for it at the beginning of November and I feel more ready than normal this year. Why, you may ask? We are going to be traveling for Thanksgiving this year. We'll be going to spend Thanksgiving in Florida with Tim's mom this year. (thanks to great house/animal sitters!)
We'll get back to Christmas in a moment, but let me explain about Thanksgiving for a minute. When we decided that this is when we would go to Florida, I said to Tim, "I can pack up my dishes and candlesticks and take everything that I would use on our table here to use there." He looked at me and said, "Would you be willing to use the really nice disposables from Costco, like we used for Lindsay's wedding?"
That question changed everything. You see, I recognized in that moment that this Thanksgiving would be different, and while it will still be about Thankfulness and Family, we have the freedom to do something new. My sister in law and her husband will be in New York for Thanksgiving this year, so only Tim's mom and our niece and her daughter will be around. I first realized we could go very casual, especially since we are traveling and Tim's mom would not care at all.
This is big for me because for Thanksgiving I love the china, and crystal and cloth napkins and candelabras. The idea of using paper plates or nice disposables would normally be disdained by me. But now I was thinking about it and what we could cook in Tim's moms' tiny kitchen. Then a real light bulb hit me. What if we all go out to eat for Thanksgiving?
I don't know what we'll do exactly, but we'll be together and we'll be thankful. (my parents and Nate and Kay and the girls are coming too!)
All this leads back to my thinking about Christmas. Our Canadian friends and family never worry about when to decorate for Christmas because their Thanksgiving is in early October. With our Thanksgiving being late in November we don't get as much time to enjoy our decor, even though we leave some things up until after Epiphany.
I don't decorate until after Thanksgiving every year, because it would be weird to have a Thanksgiving feast with Christmas decor all around us. BUT, if we will not be here for Thanksgiving...
What do you think? Should I begin to decorate before we leave for Florida? Then when we get back, we'll be set to enjoy the Christmas season?
What would you do?
14 comments:
Oh, start now for sure! I'm thinking along the same lines as all my children are coming home at Christmas but none of them will be here Thanksgiving day - I might start my Christmas decorating a little early and enjoy it longer.
Do you need my permission to jolly well do whatever you desire as the spirit moves? =D
Seems as if I was just discussing this recently...was it here? I shared that, depending on the weather, was how the spirit moved with my family. If it was snowy or wintry, Christmas decor was perfectly acceptable on Thanksgiving Day. If it was Novembery, then not so much.
Given your special circumstances, it might be a lot of fun to decorate early and arrive home with not too much to do.
I think Thanksgiving dinner out sounds like great fun, too! No leftovers, but sounds as if there isn't a need for leftovers this year. Get those reservations early! Then what will you do with the rest of your wonderful day?
Absolutely I would!!! Good for you! I had to have major surgery in 2003. I was in the process of divorcing after 41 years and the surgery was scheduled for early November. AND I was working. I took down all my fall and put up Christmas before my surgery knowing full well I could never do it after! Since it was a tough year of transitions. I did the Christmas Tree in white lights, pine cones and all things natural. It was beautiful. I did not even umpack all the traditional Christmas things that year.
Change is hard sometimes and I am contemplating doing much LESS this year as far as Christmas decorating goes. Just because I have it doesn't mean I need to use it every year! It doesn't help that I keep everything!
At any rate, I think I will be putting up my Santa Wall of Paintings this weekend. It's such a big deal, I want to be able to leave it up for awhile.
I am excited about your plans! How fun to do something so DIFFERENT than usual!
I bet you will LOVE it!!!
Again, we are kindreds! I, too, love to set a lovely table for Thanksgiving, but I applaud you for being willing to think differently. As much as I love tradition, I don't want to grow into one of those "old" people (do you notice I am not claiming to be "old" yet? ~smile~) who cannot bend but must do things as they always have been done. I think you miss out on things if you can't change with the circumstances.
Also like you, I wait to decorate for Christmas AFTER Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving so much, I want to give it my full attention. That said, I think that this year you should go for it!! Get that Christmas decor out, girl!! :D
Very beautiful tree! We are always gone for Thanksgiving, but like you I'm eager to maximize time with our Christmas decor! If we plan to return the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I decorate before leaving town. This year we will return the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so I think I might decorate Sunday before the week starts.
If you have the time and energy to decorate Christmas now, go for it. I love the idea of coming home to a ready decorated home!
And we do disposables for every family occasion, lol. Only when my granny was alive did we use china plates (or the everyday ceramic ones). We've gotten lazy, I guess.
Or more practical. lol Saves time and effort and lets the hostess/host focus on being with family and not clean up. We've eaten out on T'giving too. Not the same at all, but for a small group or family it can work just fine. You focus on the get together after, and not the food.
No matter what you do, have a great trip and a wonderful T'giving!
I like to wait to decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. The whole family will be traveling to spend Christmas in TN with our son and his family. No need to really decorate much at home but probably will anyway just to get me in the Christmas spirit!
I would do what is best for you and how it makes you feel. Personally, I wait until December to decorate for Christmas. We love Thanksgiving so much as to us, it means family! I cherish all the pumpkins for as long as possible. Then it's the magic of Christmas in December....all in good time. It's about you and your family! Make time to enjoy the season! Hugs!
This is a great thought provoking post! I loved it. I was inspired.
I hope you'll come over at link at the Fabulous Thanksgiving Party over at
my blog. Here's the link:
http://mychristmasjourney.blogspot.com/2016/11/fabulous-thanksgiving-linky-party.html
This post is definitely worth sharing as much as we can!
A couple of years ago, my husband and I were traveling on Thanksgiving Day and "happened" on a Cracker Barrel being open. I want to tell you, we had an INCREDIBLE thanksgiving meal at a very reasonable price. It appeared that many, many other people had discovered this good thing. I wonder if one could even count on a place at Cracker Barrel's tables this year???? Re. Christmas decorating, do what makes the most sense - however simple it may seem to you...
I think you should decorate when YOU want to! We always wait until right after Thanksgiving to decorate (although my snowmen might make an appearance earlier), but we leave the decorations up until late January, and that makes us happy. So go ahead, decorate before you leave for Thanksgiving, and then when you get back, it will be all done and you can concentrate on other tasks. Have fun!
Thanks for linking. I really think this post needs to be shared!
The Thanksgiving after my knee replacement we went out for Tgiving dinner and it was really nice! You might enjoy a year off from making a big meal especially not in your kitchen.
My two cents: decorate before going out of town and go out for Thanksgiving dinner. If you end up not liking either thing, well, it's only one year and you had a new experience. I think you'll be glad, though.
Post a Comment