I’ve been taking it day by day during this bustling season. Only accomplishing what must get done, keeping a lazy eye on those to-do lists and not letting them takes us over. So these days, dinner might not get made on time. But we did make a plateful of beeswax candles.
“Mom, I have a good idea. Lets make candles,” squealed my three-year-old in delight. And with the sweet excitement in her voice, I wouldn’t dare say no. So we enjoyed a late candle lit dinner.
We went a week later than we usually do to cut down a Christmas tree, because someone was feeling a little under the weather. This year I planned for us to visit a different tree farm. Since we moved to Knoxville seven years ago, we have gone to the same Christmas tree farm to cut down our tree. The lovely old couple who runs the farm stopped planting new trees a few years back, and the trees have become really picked over. So this year I thought we would start a new tradition.
We went to a farm where they – gasp – bring in Frasier Fir trees from North Carolina. Which means we would not be cutting down a local tree this year, but supporting a local business to get our tree. That did not go over well with the kids!
My oldest daughter insisted that we she cut down her own tree. So she did. And we went home with two Christmas trees. And we may have started a new tradition. 
There are many trees in our house this year, seven to be exact. The one she cut went in the kitchen, decorated with all the girls homemade ornaments from years past.
I went to a girls night gift swap party where the gifts had to be things that you didn’t want – this really is great fun! Me and a girl friend laughed our tails off on the way home when my paper bag full of someone else’s discarded items ripped, making it imposable to carry. For a moment it seemed humorously symbolic of the overabundance of “cheer” we have during the holidays. Then I got home and found the prefect home for those stocking hangers I ended up with.
I’m loving this little ledge above our sink more and more everyday. When I had the contractors put it in, they asked what I was going to put there. I said I have no idea. But now it’s perfect. 
My three year old has been helping me stamp wrapping paper. She said, “We did it during our special time.” Meaning we had 20 minutes of quiet, one-on-one time in the basement where she became covered in ink. Still, good times indeed. 
The cat Fruit Punch has taken over Eddie the Elf’s bed. 
For YEARS, and I mean years – I’ve been wondering who sang that version of “It’s beginning to look like Christmas,” that I remember playing every year at my house grown up. I have exact memories of my mom dancing around the house, decorating the living room, while this song played on the record player and I rocked on the old orange and brown plaid chair watching her. When I heard it I knew – that was it! It was playing on my XM radio in the car and snapped a picture of it so I would remember. It’s apparently, according to YouTube, From the 1984 Reader’s Digest collection, “Christmas Through the Years.” 
In past past we have made our own gingerbread houses from scratch. This year I went for the $9.99 box version with five mini houses – enough for us all. They are living as decorations and not for eating. The process was fun, and easy. I’m going for easy this year.
My oldest daughter kept saying she wanted some of the those “sculptures” in the yard. There are several people in our neighborhood who have the big plastic santa, snowman and a nativity scenes as their decor. There is one house with the inflatable Snoopy, but she deemed those unacceptable because of time they lie flat and not plugged in. That was good, because I wasn’t buying them anyway. BUT, when I saw this vintage snowman sitting on the sidewalk of a junky thrift store (there was a big santa too that I could not resist) I postponed my grocery store trip and went home with Frosty. Then my husband hung some big colored lights around the top of the porch, that we found in his parents attic last year. They have some vintage flair too.
Oh yes, we do have fun with the holidays around here.
