When is the proper time to put up decorations?

As a child I remember my parents lugging out all of our Christmas decorations on the Friday after Thanksgiving. My mother used to store our artificial Christmas tree completely decorated. This was a huge source of embarrassment to me as a youngster. I can’t exactly remember why I was so embarrassed, it just seemed like we were cheating somehow.  Of course, now I think it was absolutely brilliant of my Mother.  Because as soon as the “Turkey” high starts to fade at our house, my daughter starts the “when are we going to decorate?” whine. I marvel at the stress we create for ourselves as parents. And that’s when my deep seated dread of the holidays really kicks into high gear.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good excuse for giving gifts. It just seems that with each passing year and with so many choices, it’s become impossible to find THE perfect gift for anyone on my list….  And I’m at a loss as to why I no longer enjoy day long trips to the Mall or long drives to the outlet center to browse for hours on end.

Is it that I no longer find myself alone long enough to ponder what anyone else might like because all I can think about is getting five minutes alone? And the holidays aren’t supposed to be about being alone, are they? I still have those silly images that I want to live up of my family gathered around the tree hanging ornaments passed down from generations before. When the truth is, the eternally decorated tree of my youth went away with the divorce. And my husband’s family just shakes their heads at me and mutters “it’s too early to decorate for Christmas”.

So once again, I’m torn between my imagination and the truth of life.  As I watch our cat climb up our half decorated tree scattering ornaments and disconnecting lights, it hits me that no matter what we do to try to make things “perfect” life is going to disconnect, and yes even shatter us. At this, a crazy giggle starts to escape my lips, sending said cat scampering out of the tree. So this holiday season, it’s the giggles that I’ll be working towards and not the perfection.  And hopefully, the stress of the season will get a little disconnected as well.