I’ve gotta say…it was really tough for me to get in the spirit of Christmas this year.  I’m not sure what it was.  It’s my favorite time of year and I usually can’t wait to put the tree up and start listening to my Christmas play list.  I love the decorations all over the house, the lights, the food, the get-togethers, the white elephant gift exchanges and the Christmas plays.  I don’t know why, but this year it felt like something I had to get through and I hate even saying that! Christmas day, though, was wonderful and festive and fun and all of the things it’s supposed to be and made me glad I dragged myself into the Christmas spirit.  My husband ordered some pastries from a local 5 star bakery for everyone to enjoy in the morning as we opened presents… …and I put out some bing cherries

For those who don’t know, I have a musical background.  Musical theatre was my hobby and passion throughout my childhood (and I later earned my degree in that field) and I played a variety of instruments.  My mom was a music teacher and taught everyone in my family how to play guitar and music was always a part of our home. When I met Jeff, my husband, I didn’t know he could sing.  I’ve always been a ham, but he was shy about that sort of thing.  One day in the car, I was listening to Les Miserables and he started singing along.  I gasped.  It was God’s gift to me.  It took a few years to get him to sing in public, but he joined the praise team at our last church and started to develop his ear for harmonies. A couple of years ago, I sang a song

Over the past few years, decorating for Christmas has been mostly about work.  That sounds terrible, because I love Christmas, but with a blog, freelance writing jobs, magazine shoots and a retail space, Christmas started in September, ended in February and often sprang up in July or some other random month.  By the time it was really Christmas, I was sort of Christmased out.  This is the first year that I have nothing going on.  No articles.  No retail space.  No magazine shoots.  While all of those things are an exciting and a fun part of my business, it’s sort of nice knowing that decorating for Christmas will just be about my family and decorating for us.  Yes, I’ll share pictures on the blog, but that’s not what it’s about. So, I’m looking at holiday decorating with a fresh perspective and excitement this year.  I look forward setting up a