Holiday Homey-ness

        There was something about getting married and having a kid that turned me into a ginormous holiday lover. I find myself planning for it in July, seeing things at the store and thinking "that would make a great present for so & so", and this year I'm officially mad that gingerbread houses don't come in a"summer home in the Hampton's" style for the summer. it wasn't until my dear Hubby made me promise not to start decorating until October first that I sat back and started thinking about why it suddenly means so much to me to make the holiday season amazing.Here's what I have so far:

         It's the one time of year that you can teach your child to give and not just receive and the whole world is on board! The Season itself lends a hand in teaching little ones how to look outside of themselves and realize that they have so much to be grateful for and that there is so much they can be doing for others. I want my son to be around that from day one. I want him to not just think it is normal behavior but to know it is not and behave toward others in a manner that is Christ-like anyways.

         As an Air Force family we know that we will not always be in the same city or even the same country. We know that we will not always be around our family or even be together as our family unit due to the ever encroaching time of deployment. I want Mason to have a sense of tradition that can be carried with us despite our location in the world or the distance between us and our loved ones. I want him to have a sense of normalcy that he can hang on to. The Christmas Traditions we are creating now are like security blankets for the future. The same stockings will get hung, we will make a big deal about Christmas Tree shopping, and we will write letters to Santa and leave him cookies and milk. We will still bake cookies and have our family's version of "The 25 days of Christmas". We will still read about the birth of Jesus and spend time during the holidays spreading His Love. I want Mason to know that no matter what there are some constants in this world even though the world we have chosen have very few of them.
           Thanksgiving and Christmas are Fun!!! It's the one time of year we get to see our family cause everyone and their brother have those weeks off! I finally have a home that is big enough to accommodate more than three people at once and I want to take advantage of it. I want to decorate and bake and listen to old school carols and pretend for a bit that I'm a SAHM all the time. I want my mom to sit back and relax because her little girl has it all under control (to date that hasn't happened...She's to ADHD when it comes to homes...always has to be doing something ;p). In short, I want to be perfectly leave-it-to-beaver and make all the women in my family around me go "WOW"! It's a tall dream considering the women in my family but one year, one year it will happen. :)
            Until then, I get to craft and decorate on a budget and try to not drive my husband insane with "so I saw the coolest decoration idea on Pinterest today"...at least until October first.