The Christmas I Decided .....

not to decorate.

That would be the year 2019.  Now, I didn't totally abandon decorations.  I put a lovely Christmas planter on my hot chocolate table; a wreath on the door, and a centerpiece on the kitchen table.

That's it; no stockings hanging by the fire, no tree, not outdoor decorations ( we have permanent lights and we did change those to red and green!), not even my many Nativities.  In defense of that I have about three that are permanently up; they are very small, but if you looked, you would see them!

A couple of days after Christmas, I put everything away.

It was absolutely liberating.

This year, our family came for turkey day....everyone was here.  No one was coming back for Christmas.  We went somewhere else for Christmas day and several days following.  Why put it all out for NO ONE!

The Spirit of Christmas was strong in our home; we played Christmas music; we went to a few concerts, a nativity display, drove around to see the lights and drove some elderly people to see the lights.  There was definitely a feeling of gratitude in  our home.

The other day, I was over at DC's home.  Now, there is a decorated home.  It looks like a magazine spread.  She's very classy, so it's all so tastefully done.  In her large living room, music room, kitchen.
On the day I visited, she was taking the decorations down.  Her husband was hauling up boxes, bins from the storage shed; he was huffing and puffing over it all.  I got a headache thinking about all of it.

I'm sure she loves to do it, her family was there for several days, and they would have done the usual oohing and aahing, which makes me happy for her.  She did just want she wanted.

I DID JUST WHAT I WANTED!

And, who knows, maybe in 2020. I'll do the same thing!