Joining once again for Blogmas with Tamy over at Chasing My Life.

Today’s topic is the infamous Elf on the Shelf and whether we participate with it.

My answer is we do but quite casually. The craze didn’t really exist when G was little. And he thinks the whole idea of the elf is quite creepy. I can’t completely disagree though I mostly just threaten that it’s next placement will be to watch him sleep. 

We didn’t actually get “Buddy” our elf until J was in the 5th grade and came home telling us about the one in his teacher’s classroom. So for us, it’s been mostly about moving the elf and finding him each morning. Not about any thing else. Just for fun. And I don’t start on December 1 (or earlier!). One word for you stressed out parents worrying about a whole month of shenanigan’s: snowstorm!  Poor Buddy was often lost in a snowstorm on the way to our house. I doubt I’d change that even if the kids were little.

It’s a fun tradition for us because it’s mostly no stress and even G eventually came around and helped with the elf once in a while. 

Does an elf sit upon your shelf at Christmas time?

Happy Black Friday though around here it’s also Red Friday (Go Chiefs!). 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We went to my brother’s house and had a nice time with lots of good food. Brought home the leftovers of our contributions of cranberry sauce, pumpkin, and chocolate pie. Had to run to the store this morning though to pick up some deli turkey for sandwiches though. 

Didn’t think to take a single picture yesterday! Oops. And filling today’s post with pictures of previous Christmas decorations…

Moving On…

Each year I try to participate in the Blogmas hosted by Tamy over at Chasing My Life.  I love that she’s extended it this year to start today!

So, let’s talk about Christmas decorating.

I do enjoy Christmas (Fourth of July is my favorite but I concede Christmas has better decorations) and decorating. My husband’s rule is not until after Thanksgiving.

Many years we traveled for Thanksgiving. So didn’t get much done in the way of decorating until the Sunday night after the holiday. Sometimes, not until the following weekend.

Today’s Decorating Plans

Today, I need to take down all the Thanksgiving/fall decorations and clean. I’ve looked up and clutter creeped into a lot of my prime Christmas decorating spots. SIGH. So, I’m on a bit of a declutter before decorating mission today. Also, I’m trying to finish up a Thanksgiving candle. It’s too low to really put back into the cabinet but I can’t bring myself to throw those candles away until they are completely done.

I’ve already put the Christmas bedding on the bed in the our bedroom though I may switch it to the more festive plaid side. And I’ll put the holiday shower curtain up after I clean the main bathroom as well as put out the Christmas towels.

The Rest of the Weekend

The truth is I need help for some of our Christmas decorations and so it depends on my husband and sons’ schedules. I’m hoping they’ll help me at least with the moving of the furniture and putting up of some lighted greenery tomorrow. Although if it doesn’t happen, I’ll be okay with it. Sometimes it’s nice to let the house breathe a minute between holidays.  However, sometime by the first weekend in December (that’s next weekend), I’ll have the house decorated for the holidays.

Thinking of Scaling Back or Changing the Christmas Decorating Theme 

My style (if you can call it that) has always been a bit of the traditional “throw all the ornaments every collected over the years on the tree.”  This year, however, I’m feeling the need to scale it back a bit. The all the ornaments on the tree was my mother’s style and of course, it helped when the kids were little and loved decorating the tree.

New year, older children, and maybe it’s time for actually choosing a style more in-line with my personality. I love the outdoors and all the nature greenery I see brought in for the Scandinavian type of Christmas decorating.

So, this year I’m thinking of not putting all the heavy and breakable and of course, meaningful ornaments on the tree. Instead, just keeping it simple with candles (battery operated that I saw at Menards) on the branches, maybe some birds and I don’t know what else. And adding lots of candles and greenery throughout the house.

*Stay tuned on whether the kids young adults revolt if I try this idea. And I did look into a real tree but vetoed the idea because of the cat and fire hazard thoughts.

What are your holiday decorating plans? Do you stick with the same each year or change to different themes?