Deck the Halls and Walls and Tables and Windows...

I am a Christmas junkie. I tried to warn Mike that I love--nay, am obsessed with--Christmas, but until we hauled in boxes upon boxes of Christmas decorations from the garage Sunday night, I don't think he understood the depth of my passion for all things yule-related.

I've been collecting Christmas decorations since I was a teenager. I was so excited when I got my own place in Hawaii, because I got to get out the decorations for the first time. (That is, I was busy being a pediatrics intern, so Mom visited a month before Christmas and got out all the decorations for me.) I didn't realize how many knickknacks and whatnot I had accumulated over the years, and putting them away was such a daunting task that the decorations were not taken down and boxed up until I moved from Hawaii two and a half years later.

Last year, I went for round two and spent days carting boxes from the garage up the stairs to decorate my little apartment. Worth it? Absolutely! How long did it take to put away? Too long! But apparently I have no learning curve so all the boxes came out again this year.

We laid out our North Pole Village:

And put out 100 nativities.

OK, I exaggerate, but it was a lot. So that brings up a good question: How do you know you have too many nativities?


Answer: You open a box from nativity storage and you don't recognize the nativity. The box was opened but the figures had never been unwrapped. I swear I have never seen this one before. I don't know where it came from. I don't know if it was a gift or if I bought it or if the Magic Nativity Elves made it one night when I was sleeping. Regardless, I love it and so I put it out this year. (BTW, if I received it as a gift from someone reading this, I'm sorry I didn't remember the wonderful gesture. It's one of my favorite gifts ever. Thank you.)

This one is added to the collection courtesy of Mike's parents, who made it for him:

This one I bought as a gift for someone else but I loved it so much I kept it for myself rather than exemplify the true meaning of the season. Merry Christmas to me.

I think one of the reasons that I love decorating for Christmas so much is that every decoration brings back a flood of memories. This one I got last year when Mom and Dad visited me over Dad's birthday:
We found it at a cute little Christmas store overlooking Puget Sound in Gig Harbor. It was such a fun weekend and I loved that they would drive up to see me for just a weekend.


I'm excited to see what memories will be associated with these decorations in the future. It's one of the many reasons that I love the Christmas season.