Holiday Decorating Fun

Oh I wish I could be more like my friend Leigh Anne.

Okay, not really but I do truly admire the special people who transform their house into a magical holiday home with festive decorations by the box full. (But seriously, 25 boxes?)

This weekend was a little different for us than past years. First, we usually decorate our house on Thanksgiving weekend but since PhilBillPaul and Scary Baby were in Texas, we waited.

Second, we were minus 3 kids so the 10 year-old darling daughter had the honor of unboxing all our decorations that PhilBillPaul brought down from the attic after they brought home a Christmas tree she picked out.

I really wish I had taken pictures of the 3 red and green plastic bins filled with all our holiday treasures. Because I can’t do justice to what we found inside with mere words.

The surprises we found are a direct result of the fact that we have put the *big* kids in charge of decorating for the past several years.

I will be the first to point a finger at Roger Leroy because she has always been the most eager to get everything out and decorate the tree, the house, lights on the porch and in her room, etc.

She keeps it well-hidden but she’s a super festive kid.

But we all know that decorating is WAY more fun than UN-decorating.

She had put things away in a most unorganized fashion. Like items were not together. Tangled lights and broken ornaments. There were some tears as Scary Baby unwrapped special ornaments stuck to melted candles.

Side note to my mother: “Yes Mom, you are absolutely right. It would be way, way easier to do it myself…but then I would miss all the glory of a teachable moment…and have nothing to blog about.”

And I really let them do it because I am always looking for opportunities to relinquish some of my control-freak tendencies and be more “fun.”

Picture a warm, fuzzy Hallmark or Taster’s Choice holiday commercial.

Minus the warm, fuzzy part.

Yeah, that’s our house.

Anyway, we cleaned out the boxes, salvaged the ornaments and threw away the melted candles.

I turned on my iPod holiday music playlist.

And then we let Scary Baby trim the tree all by herself.

She did an excellent job and I’m sure the big kids will enjoy the fruits of her labor and lavish praise upon her.

In the midst of all our fun, I did make little treat bags for the college kids who stopped by and are back at school taking their last final exams this week. I made Leigh Anne’s Reindeer Cookie Bark. (As always, cute pictures and detailed instructions are on her blog.)

Since Christmas is no time to cut out sugar, PhilBillPaul even whipped up two batches of Buttermilk Fudge for us to test. The recipe is a keeper with or without pecans. YUM!

Is your house all decorated for the holidays? How many boxes of decorations do you have? Not being nosey, just interested…