Meghan posted about how she is jumping the gun a little bit and getting her house all ready to go for the holiday season, despite the fact that it’s not yet Thanksgiving and that it was 70 degrees today.
I am so right there with her.
I love Christmas. I LOVE Christmas. It’s not so much the presents I get into, because I am generally not a good gift-giver, and it just represents a stressful test of how good of a family member/friend I am. And it’s definitely not the religious aspect that gets me excited, because that is just not my thing. Instead, I fully embrace Christmas in its commercialized glory, and it’s the “Christmas spirit” that permeates the air when the season rolls around that I love the most.
The decorations are part of what makes it special. And by “decorations,” I mean that every available surface in my house is covered with a festive stuffed animal or lights or something equally delightfully tacky.

This will be my first Christmas in my new house, and I am so excited to decorate it for the first time. I haven’t actually begun the decoration process yet, but I have started buying things for it. My first item were cute plastic placemats from Target. (Oh, Target, it gets me every time.)
On the outside of the house, sure, I do go for decorations that are vaguely tastful–white lights and a wreath with a big red bow. Inside, though, classy can kiss my ass. Inside belongs a Christmas tree with a thousand different types of clashing ornaments (including things like an Edward Cullen keychain and a toy doll of the character Frolo from Hunchback of Notre Dame and a variety of ornaments my sister made using shrinky-dinks. Lights are multi-colored.

And while we do have a nativity scene, it’s because it was a family heirloom that belonged to my grandma–and last year, we had a collection of red, white, and blue democratic donkeys sitting on top.

Christmas music is another huge part of what makes it so delightfully special. I love Christmas music, religious or commercialized, obscure or mainstream. I know it all, and I love it all, which the possible exception of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” which is the only song that truly grates on my nerves. There is nothing more delightful than spending a couple of hours baking while listening to Christmas music non-stop. Actually, there is nothing more delightful than listening to Christmas music non-stop, period. Back when I was in choirs, there were always Christmas choir concerts, as well, including the Vespers service at Wellesley which was nothing short of magical, every single year.
The baking–oh, the baking! I take an immense amount of pride in creating a huge, delicious array of festive Christmas goodies. Baking is one area where I actually get competitive, so I get very excited about trying to create The Best Damn Platter of Christmas Desserts You Have Ever Seen.

And then there is the entertainment. I love, love, love Christmas episodes of my favorite TV shows. The West Wing has “In Excelsis Deo” and “Noel,” Remember WENN has “Christmas in the Airwaves,” X-Files has “The Ghosts Who Stole Christmas,” and the list goes on. Even iCarly apparently has a Christmas special which my sister and I are VERY EXCITED to watch. There are the movies, too, like White Christmas, which we watch every year while putting up the tree and A Muppet Christmas Carol, which is positively epic.
I know it’s the fact that Christmas comes but once a year, and the season only lasts for so long, that makes it special in the first place. But oh, it is just so very special that I can’t help but wish it started a bit earlier.
Only two and a half more weeks until Thanksgiving, and the Christmas season is officially permitted to begin!
