Holiday Hits and Misses

December 18, 2019

Holiday Hits and Misses

Things are going pretty well over here, holiday preparedness wise. The house is looking festive (thanks to numerous fake Christmas trees and garland), smelling festive (thanks to evergreen scented wax melts), and sounding festive (thanks to Christmas music from various playlists on YouTube). I like how year after year, most of our décor and traditions stay the same. But, not exactly the same... This year, a few things are different than years' past. Some in a good way and some in a not so good way.

Hit- decorating three fake Christmas trees and adding even more fake garland to the mix. We have trees in the dining room, the entry way and the family room. We also have three small fake trees- a small one in the dining room and both girls have small trees in their rooms. We have garland going up the stairs and, this year, I added a bit of fake greenery to the mantle because my mother in law gave us some garland that she wasn't using.

Miss- SO MANY LIGHTS THAT AREN'T WORKING ON THE TWELVE FOOT TREE. Our main Christmas tree is in the family room. It's a twelve foot pre lit beauty. Except that age has not been kind to the tree (it's about ten years old) and now various portions of the tree don't light. The problem was fairly easily rectifiable by adding in strands of lights. However, there is still some overt unevenness in light placement because of the added in lights. I looked at prices online for the potential purchase of a new twelve foot tree. My STARS! The price of tall fake trees has seemingly outpaced inflation. Unless I somehow snag a great deal after Christmas, the makeshift lights will have to do for as long as I live in a house that can accommodate a twelve feet tree.

Noooooooooo.

Better!

Hit- Dollar Store finds to keep costs down. For instance, I needed three small candles for a planter box that I bought after Christmas last year on a good sale. At Drug Mart, I found the right size candles, but they were $3.99 each. I figured I'd do better at Wal-Mart but alas their prices (at least online) were just as high. The candles weren't even fragrant; their use was solely going to be a part of a decoration. I looked at the Dollar Store and found candles that would work in the space (the candles were slightly smaller in diameter than would be ideal but they will do just fine). It was nice to spend $3 rather than $12 for something as basic as unscented candles. We've also found some cute, small décor items and cute bases for gifts at the Dollar Store this year.

At only a dollar each, these cups cost as much as some stores charge for a gift bag. I think these gifts of candy and a Starbucks gift card look much more festive than if they were in a gift bag.

Miss- I saw this ribbon at the Dollar Store and loved it. So festive! Once home, I wrapped a present and opened the ribbon package so that I could use the ribbon on the package. Uh- oh. The pieces that comprise the sparkle part of the ribbon came apart from the backing very readily and soon I had a sparkly mess all around me. Every time the ribbon moves, more of the sparkles come off. Ugh. The ribbon is not usable. Further miss- I bought four of these. Ack!

Hit- I finally found a look for our mantle that I like. I've decorated it similarly the past few years. It's nice to not have to think about how I'll decorate it. I changed our Christmas stockings to match the look of other items on or near the mantle.

Which leads me to a miss...

Miss- The kids prefer their original stockings. I changed stockings when I changed the color scheme for decorating the mantle. The kids did not take too warmly to the change (which I actually kind of like because it shows how much tradition means to them) so the stockings that are on display are truly just for display. When we put items into the kids' stockings on Christmas Eve, the items will go in their old stockings.

Hit- These

Miss- This

It looks like a feral animal got to this package but in reality, I was the one who tore into it... I finished the bag with astonishing and embarrassing rapidity.

I must not open the unopened package of Hershey's Bells or they are goners!! Kroger had its three day annual sale whereby all Christmas decorations and candy were marked 50% off prices that were already on sale. I went nuts. Unfortunately, speaking of nuts, a lot of nuts, chocolate and caramel that were in items that I purchased are gone because I opened the candy already.

Hit- Christmas bedding- new this year is holiday bedding in the girls' rooms. I was sitting on the couch in Alyssa's room one day, admiring the Christmas decorations she'd put on display. Her comforter stood out to me as being super non festive with its turquoise and pinkish orange color scheme. I asked Alyssa how she'd feel about getting festive bedding- she was all in. On Amazon, I found a cute, inexpensive duvet cover with a Christmas motif on it so I ordered it. We both love it! Abby picked out a different, though no less festive quilt for her bed. Bonus- Abby's exact quilt was in a Hallmark movie!!! We ordered hers from Wayfair and it came in the mail the same day we saw a Hallmark Christmas movie that featured the exact same quilt in it.

The tree in Alyssa's room...

The view from the couch in Alyssa's room. This bedding is much cuter to look at during the holiday season than her normal one.

Abby's bedding...

The same bedding in a Hallmark movie!!

Abby's lights

Miss- No festive bedding for our room or Jacob's. Jacob does not care in the least bit about festive bedding. I would like some for our bed. But, our entire room is festive-less. I don't think I should go down the rabbit hole of decorating our bedroom for Christmas.

Miscellaneous Hits- the remote control on/ off switch for the tree lights on our main tree. The nearest electrical outlet to the tree is at a cumbersome spot vis a vis the decorated tree so the remote control is especially useful. Bonus is the satisfying "click" sound that precedes the lights coming on by a millisecond or so when I hit the On button. I don't know why I like that sound so much but I do.

My car is decked out in festive Rudolf attire and I love it (the kids do not, sadly). I have antler ears affixed to the windows and a red nose attached to the grill of my car. Our last name sounds kind of like "reindeer" so I like whimsical Christmas reindeer decorations. When I was subbing at school one day this week, a student came up to me and told me that she thought the first time that I subbed in her class, that I said my last name was "Reindeer." She told me that when she got home from school she told her mom that she had a sub with the last name of Reindeer. I definitely didn't add a "d" sound when I told the students my last name but it must of sounded like that to her. I thought it was funny.

Miss- A big literal miss to those people whom we hold in our hearts but can't hold this Christmas season. Parents, grandparents, siblings whom we can't celebrate with, and, some of them, we haven't celebrated with for years because of their premature demise. Christmas is a unique blending of old traditions and vintage "things" (if we are lucky enough to be the recipient of handed down ornaments/ décor) and creating new memories and traditions. The items I have in my house from my childhood never cease to evoke bittersweet emotions since both of my parents are gone and have been for a long time. The loss of loved ones is felt acutely at Christmas time and nowhere does the implications of our fallen world- disease, decay, sickness seem more unfair than at Christmas time. Yet, the entire reason for celebrating Christmas- the birth of a Savior- means that one day, death will be overcome for good.

This music box was a decoration that we had in our house growing up