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Christmas Decoration: An Overview

September 2nd, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

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Christmas Decoration in the Basement

My brother’s wife groans when he asks her to drag out the Christmas decorations every year. And she has good reason. Their decorations are ‘chucked’ rather than stored. They have two small children, so by the time Christmas is over they are exhausted. You can see this if you push open the creaky door into their basement, turn on the light and peer into the dusty yellow glow. You can imagine my brother and his wife tearing down their Xmas decorations, stuffing them into cardboard boxes and throwing them into the basement from the top of the stairs, letting out a huge sigh of relief as they slam the door shut and scurry back to the open embrace of the sofa. Each Christmas decoration ends up concealed behind summer items, such as garden furniture that has been brought in for the winter months, so my brother usually has to set aside an entire day for his seek and drag-everything-up-to-the-ground-floor mission.

Boxes Full of Decoration

His wife loves Christmas decorations, as much as he hates Christmas decorating, which doesn’t help the situation. They have boxes and boxes full, and they’ve only had their own place to decorate for about four years. I really don’t know where all of their decorations came from. He inherited some of my grandmother’s Christmas decorations, which of course are his most cherished. They may not be the most beautiful or valuable antique Xmas decorations, but they hold special meaning and many childhood memories so they are displayed most prominently. Then there are the decorations that my mother purchased for us, or that his wife’s mother purchased, or that friends and extended family purchased. They have a huge amount of Xmas decorations, and despite the furore of retrieving them from the basement they are always tastefully displayed.

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An Argument for Storing Christmas Decorations all Year Round (including Christmas)

Now, my mother-in-law’s house looks like Santa went amok with his prototype toy and Xmas décor machine every time Christmas rolls around. She is a total arts and crafts nut, so she has countless Christmas decorations scattered liberally around the house. I don’t think there is one inch in that house that is not covered in red, green or gold during the holiday season. There are knitted tissue box covers, toilet seat covers, wall hangings, quilts; you name it and it is there. So many contmeporary and antique Christmas decorations that you can’t even distinguish where one ends and where another begins. But she loves them, and we never have to stay there very long when we visit, so I suppose that is all that matters.

An Uneasy Marriage

Then there is my family. There are hardly any decorations because they clutter the house, and they have even started using an artificial tree for the last three years, which they leave tastefully bare. There are a few poinsettias, a few smatterings of gold bows and green wreaths but nowhere near the volcanic eruption of my mother-in-law’s home. I suppose I would say that the home my wife and I have created is an uneasy marriage of both of our backgrounds, both of our styles. As long as my grandmother’s antique Christmas decorations have pride of place, I don’t think I’d have it any other way.

(You are welcome to use this article on your web-site or blog as long as the resource box and the links it contains remain intact.)

Eoin Beckett is a freelance author and editor. Although he stems from Ireland, he currently lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. Read more about Christmas Decorating Ideas at Juletide - the ancient and magical word for Christmas.

Christmas Décor Desperation

September 2nd, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

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The Elves and the Troublemaker

Christmas is a feast for the eyes. Every year I gorge myself on the Christmas décor that adorns my neighborhood. Almost every family round here, it would seem, has had a great time coming up with ebullent designs and decorations that set the street alight. Christmas decorations seem to verily spill out of their windows and doors. Their gardens must hide a spaghetti of hidden cables to power all those light shows. Not so my household. We dread the festive decorating season. Throughout the year we just about manage to keep the floors clear of dust devils and the walls free of spider webs, but the extra hours required to get the Christmas decorating spirit off the ground always seem to get swallowed by our burgeoning social calendar – which is especially jam-packed during the run-up to Christmas.

Even Santa Employs professionals

I have often watched my neighbors organizing their own Christmas décor and secretly wished that I could entice them into decorating my house as well. I see the mall stores and their lovely Christmas decoration and I wish that I could just purchase all of it in all of its perfectly glory. A co-worker of mine was bragging about how gorgeous her house was last year for Christmas. I decided to drive past it one evening and my jaw dropped. The Xmas décor at her house amazed me. Her entire yard and house was beautifully lit but tiny little white lights and they all were perfectly hung and organized. There was not a single bulb that wasn’t glowing and out of place. I was incredibly impressed and told her as much the next day. I jokingly asked her if she and her husband wanted to be in charge of my Xmas decoration as well. She laughed and told me that her house had been professionally decorated. I had never even heard of such a thing! She wrote down a website for me to check out but asked me to keep it between us. She obviously wanted people to believe that she and her husband had been responsible for the decorating. Oh dear, I guess I was the wrong person to tell.

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Christmas Elves to the Rescue!

I sat down in my office and immediately checked out the website - www.christmasdecor.net. To my amazement, it turned out to be a decorating company that will come to your home or place of business and let their Xmas décor ideas take over. Within hours, their little elves can have your house or business looking like something from a movie. I had honestly never known that such a company existed. I couldn’t help but wonder how much it would cost, but their packages sounded wonderful. Not only would they put up the decorations, but they would take it all down for you as well. That meant that I would no longer have to struggle with untangling the lights and checking them all before hanging them. I wouldn’t have my kids tripping over extension cords while I tried desperately to get all of my Christmas décor placed during their naptimes. So many problems and hassles would be eliminated and my house would look spectacular for the holidays.

Christmas Goodies

At that point, I knew that as long as the prices were reasonable, I was going to go for it. I got in touch with Santa’s elves, we negotiated a package and they paid us a visit, driving a red van rather than a flying sleigh, much to the kids’ disappointment. By the time I’d returned home from a frantic day at work, they had gone and, in true elfish fashion, had left a fairy wonderland in their wake. As a result, I was able to sing along with a smile through the kids’ carol services, I managed to stay awake throughout the entire Christmas nativity show and generally got down and boogied through the general seasonal good cheer. I even managed to enjoy shopping for Christmas gifts. That was a first! I could afford to relax and fulfil all my social engagements with pleasure.

Acknowledging the Tip-off

I ran into the neighbour who had tipped me off. She commented on my house’s fine Christmas decoration, and expressed surprise that we’d done so much after she’d had to listen to all my ’bah humbug’ complaints the week before. I winked and popped another minced pie into the shopping cart.

You are welcome to use this article on your web-site or blog as long as the resource box and the links it contains remain intact.

Eoin Beckett is a freelance author and editor. Although he stems from Ireland, he currently lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. Read more about Christmas Decor at Juletide - the ancient word for Christmas.

Copyright © 2007 Jule Tide

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