mommyt6

We put our tree up about the second week of Oct. But we put orange lights and paper pumpkins and fake maples leaves all over it and call it our harvest tree. Then right after Halloween we sit and make hand turkeys for every member of the family(there are only 4 of us so we each make 2) and we place the new turkeys as well as the ones from past years on the tree. The on black Friday we carefully undecorate and redecorate for Christmas. I also hang a orange paper chain around my front room. and the same night we make the turkeys we make strips of paper that we write what we are thankful on and add them to the chain that was hung in Oct. I have little kids so last year it was thing like marshmallow and hot wheels. I LOVE IT!!!! Oh and we are North Idaho so my DH does the outside lights the first weekend in Nov and then we turn them on with our own family lighting ceremony the evening of black Friday. We even make sure to put sparkles away during the 4th of July so that we have some just for that night. We turn on the Christmas lights and light sparklers----OK so we may just take this holiday thing a little to serious----NAAAAAA

We have a bunch of rubber maid tubs that we store our decorations in. We just put them in the closet then sneak the gifts into them. Then I complian now and again that my Husband still hasn't taken the "empty" tubs back to the storage unit. Works so far.

When my younger sister was in kindergarden and I was in the first grade, A little girl that was a friend of my sisters told her that Santa wasn't going to come to their house that year because they didn't have any money. My sister came home and told Mom that if Santa was going to her friends house because she didn't have money then she didn't want him comming to hers. My folks sat down and talked to both of us girls. I think my younger brother(4 years younger) and sister(10 years younger) just caught on after time. But it never diminished the spirit for us.