Rules

A few days ago, I was sitting in the computer room when Matt yelled with excitement, "Deanne, come look!"


I ran out to our living room and he pointed out the large slider doors to reveal that the air outdoors was filled with thousands of tiny, swirling snowflakes. The first snow!


There's nothing like the first snow to make me feel the need to crank up some Christmas tunes and start unpacking our many boxes of Christmas decorations. And it is hard to believe that there is anyone out there in the world who is a bigger Christmas fanatic than me.


BUT. I have very strict {personal} rules when it comes to the timeline of Christmas celebrations; 1.) No Christmas music shall be listened to earlier than the day after Thanksgiving. 2.) No Christmas movies shall be watched earlier than the day after Thanksgiving. 3.) Christmas decorations cannot be unpacked or put up earlier than the day after Thanksgiving.


Now, I understand why the commercial world takes full advantage of going full-blown CHRISTMAS on November 1st. And it certainly does seem a shame to only be able to listen to Christmas music for one month. It's also a pity that I put so much hard work into decorating our home and tree for Christmas when the time flies so quickly and before I know it, the huge process of taking down and re-packing the decorations begins.

This is my personal rule for one main reason: I love Thanksgiving. And for me, enjoying my favorite Christmas music, movies, and decorations before Thanksgiving is over really takes away from focusing on the wonderful holiday traditions of Thanksgiving.

Its really overwhelming how much I have to be thankful for. Even though I'm thankful for all the blessings in my life year-round, I don't often sit down and think about exactly how lucky I am like I should. As Americans, I think it is so easy to take what we have for granted. But way beyond my lifestyle/material blessings, God has truly poured out His love upon my life with relationships. And having walked away from my time in Hungary with some of the most meaningful, special relationships in my life, I have extra to be thankful for in that category this year.

I do like visiting stores that are already decorated and are playing Christmas music this time of year. I kind of feel naughty, like I'm cheating! It really fills me with excitement and anticipation for the Christmas season.

So there you have my silly little rule on the clear separation of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Anyone else out there join me on that?