I opened my eyes yesterday morning at 6:14am (which was Saturday, November 14th, for the record) because I heard the jingle of dog tags and the patter of excited 8-year-old little feet. Lindsey and Diana presented themselves at the foot of my bed, practically vibrating with excitement.
"Good morning, momma. Can we still decorate the tree today?"
I sighed, pushed myself up to my elbows, and told her that we could, once I had some coffee. I thought that might buy me a little time, but instead, she squealed with excitement and ran into the kitchen to try to figure out how to start the coffee pot. I had been hoping she would forget about it, but no such luck. When I heard her in the kitchen, I knew we would have to decorate the dang tree. How could I squash that kind of excitement?
A few weeks ago, I saw a really good deal on an artificial tree in a Facebook group and snagged it. It wasn't because I wanted to get in the spirit early - it was because in this year of starting over from scratch, I knew I needed a tree and didn't want to spend a ton of money on one. It arrived a week later, and I put the box in the laundry room because I didn't feel like lugging it up to the attic only to pull it down at the end of November.
My very curious 8-year-old saw the box one day when she was helping me with the laundry, and the inquisition began. "What kind of tree is it?", "How tall is it?", "When are we putting it up?" I told her we would get to it one of these weekends, probably closer to Thanksgiving.
I am not a Scrooge. I swear I am not. Two things were going on that made me reluctant to dive in to decorating. One, for four years, I worked for a radio station that starting playing Christmas music on Halloween - the same 40-ish songs, over and over for two months was enough for me to be a little anti-Christmas for a while. The longer I worked there, the more staunch I got in my feelings about decorating after Thanksgiving. Two, I have just been so very tired this year. Everything seems to take more energy than it "should". My body and my brain feel worn all the way down. On the weekends, after putting in a full week of work and school, I really just want to rest, take naps, binge watch tv, and lay low. (Can you relate?)
So, while I yelled instructions to Diana on how to get the coffeepot started, I dragged myself out of bed and made my way up into the attic to pull down the boxes of ornaments and decorations. My little helper was twirling around the bottom of the stairs, yelling up instructions about the items she was most excited for me to pull down. As I handed down the first box, I decided that I was going to get on her level and join in the excitement.
By 6:30am, we were officially started. We fired up the Christmas music from the speaker in the kitchen and assembled the tree. We sang along to the songs as we unwrapped the ornaments. As each was unwrapped, she wanted to hear the story of where it came from - she has a deep interest in her history, even when she already knows it. When Silent Night came on, I told her it was my favorite and that I loved singing it to her when she was a baby. (Then, she asked if I ever wished that I could sing as well as Carrie Underwood? Thanks, kid...ouch.)
Once the tree was done, we were in such a groove, that we just kept going and going. Wooden Santas? Let's do it. Santa with a countdown to Christmas? Yes, please. Block Nativity set? You bet. Table runner on the kitchen table? Why not? Holiday doormat? Check. Swap out the pillow covers inside AND outside? That's happening. Wreath on the blank wall above the piano? Gotta do it.
Here's the crazy thing: all of that only took a few hours. In my head, I thought it was going to be an all weekend project. We made a trip to Target to pick up a few extra things in the afternoon, and in reality, the whole decoration process took less than three hours.
Here's the payoff: I found myself feeling some real joy somewhere along the way. When we snuggled in to watch a Christmas movie on Netflix last night by the light of the Christmas tree, my heart felt full. In this ridiculous year, it was incredible to be able to physically bring some happiness into our home. This morning, when I dragged myself out of bed and went into the kitchen, I found myself smiling when I saw the tree all lit up like a beacon and smiling even more when it struck me that by decorating "early", we bought ourselves two extra weeks of that happiness. For three hours of effort, I get all of that and it made me look forward to Christmas for the first time in a long time.
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