Christmas decor...or lack thereof

I suppose I should have anticipated it, but it seems this Christmas is going to be kind of crummy. At least as far as decorating goes anyway. The girlies and I wandered around Hobbie Lobby and Walmart on Saturday, looking at the decorations. Didn't buy a thing. Not having my Christmas ornaments stinks. If I'd had them when I wanted them we would have put up a real tree this weekend. To put up a tree, even with lights but no ornaments, seems kind of sad to me.


I considered getting a fake tree. Something I've never ever done before. Every time I came across one that looked ok, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Real trees are a pain in the rear, but I'd still rather deal with the pain rather than have a plastic tree. Besides, it's tradition.

Then there's everything else, besides the tree. I could do with just a tree for a year or two but eventually I want to begin my own decoration collection. I didn't really have an idea of what I wanted to do and didn't want to spend the money on something I wasn't sure I wanted. Nativity scenes are pretty high on the list, but I'd rather find something special, rather than the mass manufactured stuff at Walmart. Fort Collins is nearby and has some really fantastic art stores I'd rather browse. There's a Ten Thousand Villages store that has some really cool ones.

This one is from a Peruvian trading company, Allpa.

So I feel kind of bad for my girls. Because they have to move, their mom isn't going to put anything up, even though she has all the decorations we've accumulated over the years. The girlies and I are going to spend Christmas weekend with my parents, but they'll have been moved into their new house for a whole 5 days. My mom says they'll have a tree, but it will probably not be the same wonderful decorations she usually has.

When I was a kid, Christmas was the best time of year for me. The way my mom decorated, the tree, all the family gathering, the food, and of course the presents, was wonderful. Maybe I remember it being a lot nicer than it really was, but so what? I want that for my kids and I really don't feel I've been able to give it to them. I think a large part of that is the way my stbx did presents. She was always apologizing to the kids for not being able to give them more. That's not the point. So I'm glad I don't have to deal with that this year.

Right now I'm thinking if I can get a tree set up by Thursday evening, and get my ornaments by then, I'll have the girls help me decorate it. They gotta have something.

Did you know the US Capitol Christmas Tree is coming out of Wyoming this year? Wyoming schoolchildren made 5,000 ornaments to decorate it. I never saw it, but it took a tour through Wyoming on it's way to DC. (This is not the same tree as the National Christmas Tree.)

So how are your decorations coming?