it's officially "the holidays"

I anticipate this weekend all year long. Thanksgiving is over and the Holidays officially begin for our family. We start out with the Day After Thanksgiving Specials (NOTE: It's so important to me, it's even capitalized!) and then move into the Public Market where you can find 200 vendors selling homemade and other crafts. Mike has been busy hanging cedar garland and clear lights outside on the porch railing, around the door, and on trees and I'm supposed to be decorating inside. I keep getting side tracked though with too many other things to do. Like this post. And making lists of everything that needs to be done. And looking through Christmas magazines from years past. And filling my calendar. It all has to be done today so I know what to do tomorrow!

My family has two traditions. Tracy and I make wreaths and door swags every year for ourselves and others we give to friends. And we bake and decorate thousands of sugar cookies. Or it just seems that way after we're mid-way through. Both are quite the ordeal though because I can't do anything small.

First up with be wreath making. In years past, my mom would send up a large box of cedar, holly, and other Oregon greenery. After she passed away (11 years today), my dad carried on the tradition and then after my dad passed away, my sister, Georgia, did. We're talking a HUGE box with enough greenery to supply the neighborhood. I'd set card tables up and we'd bring all the greenery inside the house where we could drop clippings and needles on to the floor and not worry about it because of the hardwood floors. The main objective though was staying warm.... I know down south my sister makes her wreaths outside but it's just not feasible here. I'd have all the wreath forms, ribbons, wire cutters, and floral wire bought ahead of time, plus accessories we could add on to the wreaths if we so desired. I've never been such a good wreath maker, but it turns out okay. I always make a swag to hang out on the mailbox stand.

Our Christmas decorations always include the outside and always looks so nice, not cluttered or junky. Some day I'll get ambitious enough to make a wreath to hang on every split rail fence post. Our neighbors and best friends usually get some kind of greenery creation when we're done. I'm afraid we'll no longer get our box of greenery from down south anymore because of the post office's new procedure for mailing boxes. In case you didn't know, they no longer go by weight, but by the size of the box. And I can say from experience, it's no longer cheap. So today or tomorrow, my sweet husband and I will go out into the woods to cut local greenery. It's okay, but we don't have cedar here or holly or boxwood. We have horribly spruce with horrible needles that stick you. We also have hemlock and pine. It'll work okay for swags but not so well for wreaths. I guess the best part of getting that box of greenery was it was sent with love. It was from my family, whom I miss so terribly this time of year. It was our one connection over the holidays. Oh, well. Life goes on.

We're expecting snow today.