Deck the halls, y’all.

And so, the lessons in (new) home ownership continue.

Let’s talk about Christmas decor (and/or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa – and any other festive, December-days so no one is left out). As my husband and I pulled into the neighborhood late Sunday evening, following our South Carolina to Florida round trip, we were met with an immediate glow. You know when you’re at a 3:30 p.m. college football game, and the sun sets and you don’t consciously notice it’s dark until the end of the 4th quarter because the stadium lights are so intense? That’s how our neighborhood felt. Faux daytime glow. Apparently, once the turkey and ham are consumed, and countless casseroles (pretending to be vegetables) have gathered  excessively around your waistline  (damn you, faulty Gold’s Gym scale – thank God for control-top leggings), it’s time to bring out the Christmas lights. All of them. Everywhere. Seriously.

Lights flashing, sparkling and twinkling. Ad nauseam.  Meanwhile, our little house sat in the eerie dark shadows of holiday ignorance – the blatant Scrooge of the cul-de-sac.

So… we took the obvious hint and finally threw our apparent, last-season pumpkins away (and the weird, ugly, fatty white squash/gourd I felt sorry for and bought out of pure sympathy) and uprooted the purple mums to the backyard and made a mad-dash to Lowes (my new favorite store with my newly acquired nesting-palate) for the  Christmas decor starter-kit – for beginners.

With the tree (which took very thorough size, shape and fullness analysis – think of, America’s Next Top Christmas Tree), tree stand, (tasteful) tree skirt, 60-ft of burlap, white lights (not the intermittent twinkle ones – Tye threw a fit over those), handful of “sweater” ornaments (that I thought were cats – and were actually foxes, oops), irrational and unconventional wreath option (not weather friendly) and mini-trees for the porch, we’re all set to deck the halls (well, hall… we only have one hall) with boughs of holly (whatever that means) – and then some.

P.S. I’ve been putting the birthday presents my ever-so-thoughtful mom has been sending me under our tree. This morning, I found them all mysteriously moved in front of our fire place. My sweet husband is making a conscious effort to not lump my December birthday in with Christmas – that is a gift in itself. I do adore him.