Premature Decoration

It's always been a hard and fast rule in our house that you don't decorate for Christmas until Dec. 1st (actually, usually, until after Dec. 3, but sometimes there are exceptions).

I put my Christmas lights on my balcony last week while it was warm, but just didn't turn them on. That's okay I think, because it was done to avoid the cold - and you can't see them if they're not on and I'm not turning them on till December.

But then, last night, something went completely awry.

My parents were here to "drop off a chair" (my dad is refinishing the chairs for my dining room table, and so, every couple weeks, the parental units come up to "drop off a chair" which is parent speak for "investigate and make sure everything is going smoothly". (aside: you know I really don't care that I punctuate improperly around quotations - it's not out of ignorance, it's more out of disagreement with grammar rules, so I am going to continue to take a stand! Sorry.)

So, while we were visiting, I took out my new nativity scene (ooh! I meant to write about that too!) and my Charlie Brown Christmas tree (so called because it's a 3 foot tall artifical tree which is so incredibly sad compared to the 7 foot tall real trees we have at home :( ) to show my parents. Once I had the nativity scene all unpacked, I remembered what a pain it was to get it back in the box, and I thought about how Dec 1st is next Wed anyway, and I just decided to leave it out somewhere.

Then I pulled out the Charlie Brown Christmas tree and my dad goes "Why don't you just put it up?". I was stunned. He was always the "Not Before Dec. 1/3!!!" rule enforcer! But, if I waited, he wouldn't get to see it. So apparently rules can be changed for him. So I put up the tree and the lights and the nativity scene. My mother had brought some of my other Christmas decorations, and was unpacking them so she could take the box home. So I put those out as well.

Now, here I sit, Nov. 26, and my apartment is (almost) completely decorated for Christmas. Five days early. And I feel completely out of sorts because of it. I had ordered a poinsettia from a mechanic at work (trying to buy his love so he'll do me favours in the future - so sad) and I saw him today and asked when they're arriving. Because it feels like Christmas is here. When he said "next week", I realized how far ahead of schedule I am. I'm completely off.

The only saving grace is that, because I wasn't planning on decorating this early, I don't have Christmas tree ornaments. Right now, it only has 3 plus an angel, stuff my mother brought. So there is still the official decorating of the tree to launch the Christmas season next week. But man, I'm so early I had to practically hide the Wise Men in the back corner of the nativity scene because they haven't even thought about packing yet, let alone actually set out on the journey!

I need a better plan next year. I just totally killed November.