Cookin' Up Creations

We are getting into the second week of December...17 days until Christmas!!! Do you still have the wonder and excitement of a child or has it just become another holiday where there seems like it is too much to get done and you would like to be like Luther Krank (John Grisham's Skipping Christmas--also made into a movie) and skip the whole thing...or maybe you're somewhere in between.

Honestly, I'm stuck in between. It can be busy, overwhelming, expensive, chaotic.....but I love the end result. The festive feeling in the house, the decorations, and having fun with family.

As soon as we got up all the trees and lights and the grandkids were here to help out I've been feeling in a festive mood. I've been shopping at the stores and online and all the grandkids gave me their wish lists so I'm not feeling overwhelmed or anything.

I hate most all of it.

I have to admit that it is so hard to get into it this year. This is just not me! But I have succumbed. Honestly I know our decorations will be minimal and DH has always been a scrooge in that dept. I can't get the tree until he gets it down from the garage and he is never in the mood to do that so it will seem why do it the closer it gets till Christmas. He is the guy that takes it down the minute the kids leave on Christmas. I do want it up in hopes that the kids get to come. It's just wishy washy right now.
Time to get our game on! Time is running out!

I'm in the middle. It's a lot of work and we have no family in the area so sometimes I wonder why we bother at all. But at the end of the day I love sitting down with a cup of cinnamon tea and enjoying our tree and all the decorations. This year has been harder to get in the mood knowing that there are no parties to plan or go to. At least we had our golf cart parade but that's all that's planned for this year in our community.

I LOVE Christmas. I have to admit that it's depressing since none of our kids or grandkids will be here. And we aren't going to risk going to Ketchikan even because there's been such a spike in cases this month. This is the second year in a row that we'll be here by ourselves. BUT... I love seeing the lights and my decorations. They cheer me up. And I need that cheering up this year! And our dear friends Nick and Katja, and Brian, Sandra and 6 YO Excie will be here too so I'm sure we'll get together with them some.

AND Steve and I are planning a bonfire party probably January 2. It's a Saturday and people will have plenty of time to do other things that weekend. We're only going to schedule it for 3-4 hours in the evening. So we're excited about that. Trying to give each other some cheer and say thanks to all our friends and neighbors here who have been so kind and generous to us.

This is the first year since Jack passed that I have felt like decorating. I have been thrifting for vintage Christmas decorations for a couple of months and I still look for them when I go out. I have decorated 2 hutches, my little 5 foot tree and little vignettes of Christmas all over the house. I even purchased a Christmas shower curtain and comforter for my bed this year.

Not many presents under the tree as Kyle got his early this year but that's okay, it's not about the presents anyway.