Today Is The First Of December !!

And what does that mean at Beck's Bounty, you ask ?? It means ...... (drum roll) ..... LET THE CHRISTMAS DECORATING BEGIN !!

Last year we were all very frustrated. After watching "Christmas" arrive earlier and earlier each year in the marketplace, we were tired of the commerical "push and pull" of stores. Once upon a time nothing "Christmas" was seen until the day after Thanksgiving, at the very earliest .... then it was the middle and beginning of November .... next we noticed that Christmas candy was put on the nearly-depleted-Halloween-candy shelves, and ornaments were all too often right next to the clearance-priced costumes .... and last year year we saw some Christmas items displayed right along side the back-to-school items. To this we finally said ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We decided that WE would keep Back-To-School and Autumn in their correct season, and that we would keep Thanksgiving in it's season, and lastly that we would keep Christmas in it's correct season. So, the new "rule" for us was made in a very official Family Meeting ... DECEMBER 1st !!

On Friday, in preparation, the children and I ventured to the "big city" to shop for lights and a few other things. The children selected multi-color C-9 lights (the BIG ones) for the exterior of the house. Each child chose a few new ornaments for the tree this year. Oh, and everyone picked out a new stocking to hang by the fireplace.

So .... today began at 530am (for MomToCherubs) ... and again at 8am (for the Cherubs). First, we had a nice breakfast. After breakfast we assembled our Advent Wreath because tomorrow is the First Sunday of Advent. After that, we spent the entire day decorating together, just as DadToCherubs and I had promised we would. (We made this promise last year saying that 2007 would be the First Annual Decoration Day for our family.) The house is finished inside and outside -- except for the tree. We will not put that up for another week or more because we get live trees each year (a family tradition) and do not want it to dry out too early (dry pine needles pricking your toes in the night - OUCH !!). Plus we have more ornaments to make, so we need a bit more time to get them finished.

December 1st ... is to be forever after known at Beck's Bounty to be ... DECORATION DAY !!

(we will post photos of our handywork soon.)