Not even Thanksgiving and YUP, I’ve got my Christmas decorations up! No shame. I’m even hosting Thanksgiving, LOL! I had every intention of leaving my dining area to be pumpkins, but couldn’t resist and now it’s the dang North Pole up in here.
My decorations are quite the modge podge this year. I have some from my mom that she stopped using, some from our first house, some from our rent house, and just overall, a mess. So, we unloaded everything, put up what we liked, and then went straight to motherland of Christmas decor, Hobby Lobby, to fill in what we didn’t have.
Cool story: I pulled out a wreath from one of the boxes. My mom took it to re-fluff and add to so that we could hang it on my front door. It was hot glued together and probably had a zip tie. It was from my mimi who passed away almost 3 years ago. She had put it together. It was such a sweet moment. She’s still with us decorating. She’s the peach of Vivified Peach and is still popping up in the most unexpected times.
One thing I will not ever change about my decor are the pieces that tell a story. I have a cowboy Santa and Snowman that I remember having in our house growing up. Our stockings that hang on the mantle each have a special story to them. Shelton proposed to me in mine, we added Casons the year he was born, had a small one for the pregnancy that we ended up miscarrying, and now sweet Calynn Mae has one. (Thank you Target for continuing to carry these for the past 6 years.) Overall, I am all for the Pinterest level of Christmas decor, however, don’t forget the real meaning and what Christmas should be all about. The birth of our savior and celebrating that with your loved ones. If there is decor that supports those things that you want to keep up that may not level up to Pinterest standards, who cares. It’s worth it to look at and smile!
On that note, our tree this year could not speak more to that. When we went to Hobby Lobby for filler, we went without a real plan for the tree but wanted to see what they had. You SHOULD HAVE SEEN Cason’s eyes light up on the ornament isle.
“Mom! Look at the fire truck! It’s red race car! Ohhhhh…ice cream!”
I immediately made the decision that he was decorating the tree. Anything he liked, was going on the tree. Anything that made me smile or made me think of a happy memory, blessing, or person, it was going on the tree. This control freak, especially when it comes to decor, broke her chains and let it become a free for all, and you know what? IT IS MY FAVORITE TREE!! It is so happy. True joy. Does it match? Kind of. But it has Cason’s personality written all over it and that is HAPPY!
I ran into a friend and was telling her about it. She said “You know what? He will probably love Christmas and know the joy behind it just because you let him experience it so young.” WHAT!? Melted. I hope so. And I hope I remember that in all other aspects of parenting. It didn’t hurt my decorating heart one bit to let him go on the ornament isle. He picked the star out on top, the ornaments, and even some of the fluff to go in between.
Merry Christmas, Peaches! I think I want to add a few more bows and things here and there, but I love the start to our home for my favorite season!