All I want for Christmas

I am normally one of those happy go lucky holiday nutty people who can't get enough Christmas.
This year things seem a little off.

When I get in my car it is miles before I realize that I have been listening to XM Radio's ads instead of pushing the button to get the Christmas music. (Since for some stupid reason the temporary stations don't save and come on when you turn the car off and on again. Leif would have told me I said a bad word using "stupid" above.)

Our decorations went up this weekend.

AB hauled the tree out of the garage and set it up before we got home on Friday. We have decided to leave the 1990's and ditch the icicle lights in favor of a slightly more sleek look. I have had a thing for big colored lights for the house since I was a kid and my dad would put up our one string of big lights on the house (that would start burning out a week after installation). So AB went to Costco in search of my request. He found zip for lights and decorations there.

We hit Lowes after swimming lessons and found a single box of LED lights - already opened - for $19.95.

I don't think so.

I was about ready to give up and suggest a return to 1990 for this year only - with a resolution to buy lights early next year when directly in front of me at the grocery store were boxes of big LED colored lights for $5. I cannot believe I bought our Christmas lights for the house at the grocery store of all places. But I stocked up because whenever we buy lights invariably one of us ends up heading back out for a second pass since we can't seem to add.

AB and Leif spent a fair amount of time outside this weekend putting lights up while I worked on the inside.

And worked.

And worked.

We have a problem. The formal dining room, turned play room is just not big enough for our 9' tall tree, other Christmas decorations AND my Christmas village (not to mention all the other stuff in there... buffet, fish tank, shelves with games, rocking chair, boxes of books and cases of wine).

And I just don't have anywhere else in the house to put stuff.

I thought about ditching the village this year. But the trip to Lowe's defeated that idea. Leif is freakishly excited about the village and even "bought by himself" a lobster boat to go with the set. He was adamant that he was buying the lobster boat for the whole family for the village. Hearing him declare this made me beam inside.

Of course the $9.95 came out of our checking account. Minor details.

So instead of the weekend of decorating being a time of joy and happiness, I felt rushed (feeling so behind this year) and frustrated by either the amount of stuff we have or the size of our house. Honestly, it is a little of both.

I cleared out the formal dining room/playroom and moved 50% of the toys (the Geotrax and the bookshelf of games stayed) into the living room and Skadi's room. Minor problems then ensued... I have no place to put Skadi's hamper. And my living room is covered with toys that have no other place to go.

Oh and the newly formed Christmas room? Packed. Boxes of books on one side of the room and the opposite corner has cases of wine in the other corner. Not that I am complaining - books and wine - two of my favorite things. But the lack of space is getting to me.

And where exactly am I supposed to put the containers that held the Christmas items? I suppose I could send them back up to the attic (AB says he needs to go up and retrieve our lighted reindeer he forgot up there), or put them in the garage (and relegate AB once again to driveway parking JUST when our garage was cleaned out), or leave them behind the couch.

Sigh.

What this weekend really did, aside from frustrate me, was to reinforce that notion that a new house is no longer just a luxury, but bordering on a necessity. We have a complete lack of storage space and are just plain running out of room.

All I want for Christmas is a new house.

Christmas in July

What could be better? As a Christmas nut, going into a Christmas store in Leavenworth was a sure bet that money would fly out of my purse.

I officially made my very first Department 56 purchase.

For about the last four years I have collected a Christmas village. When I was deciding which one to collect I debated pretty heavily. I so wanted the Department 56 set, but when I dragged my husband to then Bon Marche to look at them, he balked. Ok, not just balked, he nearly threw a mini fit in the store and I left empty handed.

Really, I told myself, the Lowe's set was a far better bet. The price was right and we never go a month or so without a trip to Lowes. Thus guaranteeing to myself that AB would always buy me a piece for my set every year for Christmas.

HA!

Three or four years without any addition to my, albeit very nice, Lowe's set pretty much gave me free reign when I admired the sets in the store.

I did resist the buildings. But when Leif pointed at the cutest Christmas tree with wildlife surrounding and the tree decorated with food items (Christmas in the Forest)? Sold. It would be a perfect centerpiece to my already wildlife themed village. I also bought the Children's Nativity.
So now I have a new resolution... instead of waiting for my husband to add to my set every year, I will do it. He can go back to buying me mittens and hats with no guilt whatsoever.