Decorating the House? Tick that off the List!

I’ll start off by saying something… controversial.

I… don’t love decorating the house for Christmas. And neither does my husband, Kevin.

I know. Ba humbug. I loved the days when the kids still lived with us and would take care of it for us. But now that they have left the nest. every year I look at the pile of boxes in the garage and filled with the dread of putting them all up in an aesthetic way. Wires everywhere, never enough outlets in the right spots, always trying to remember where things go. To me, it’s a headache. I watch those cute little tiktoks online of people decorating their beautiful homes and think “it can’t be that bad!”. Well, not to yuck anyones yum, but the moment I have to do it myself, the fun is drained out of it.

So in regards to date ideas, I’m not really sure if, FOR KEVIN AND ME, decorating the house can be considered a romantic date. It jut doesn’t have the right vibe.  There is no romantic date-like talking that goes on during the decorating and it feels a bit more like a chore.  And I’ll tell you why,

For example,   I don't really understand how it happens that lights that were working just fine when they were put away 11 months ago somehow stop working, in the  container, during their dormant time, but it happens every year!

So this season there were 2 sets of lights that, when plugged in, had only half the lights working,

Half the lights!

How does that happen?  They are all on the same set of wires, one half is just fine and the other half won’t light up!!!  Crazy!

And another thing!  I label all of my tinsel and light sets so I know which ones go where.  You know, the Fireplace set, the Banister set, The downstairs Mantle set, and then BOOM.  One set of tinsel and lights is too short for its display location!  How does that happen????

Makes me crazy.  And crazy is not good dating fodder. 

But it happens every year it seems, like those clothes that shrink in the closet, so in one case I had to buy more tinsel to make it longer and in another case, I just shoved the unlit lights into a corner and creatively (?) arranged the lights on the hearth.  Big sigh…

However, there is a certain type of magic that comes along once the house is all done. Our Santa, Mrs. Claus, and elves are all in their Christmas places.  The North Pole display my mom gave me years ago is on the mantle.  Stockings are up, tree looks great, and everything is twinkling where it should be. 

Here’s the thing about making a date out of Christmas decorating: It is always better once it is done. Now that the Christmas magic is in our home, we get to enjoy it together and with our guests for the next few weeks. Kevin and I now get to enjoy a nice bottle of wine together beneath the magic twinkling lights and appreciate the work it took to make this magic come alive again.

BONUS! If you are curious about how our home is transformed, check out our instagram and tiktok @cindysedd throughout this month to see how decorated our home has become!