So right before Thanksgiving with a looming snow day I decided to drag all the holiday decorations out of the garage and start decorating. Never one to pass up new adorable holiday décor or a great sale – in the last four years my holiday decorating has taken on a life of its own. In fact there are so many varying themes that each room (or display area in some cases) looks different. For instance the formal dining table has giant mod looking letters spelling out JOY in pink, green and blue and is surrounded by like-colored resin reindeers with glitter horns – on the buffet in the same room there are four (yep – four) different versions of small red Christmas trees. The mantle is all red, green and white, and the gifts under the tree this year are all wrapped exclusively in only red and white this year. And to round out the schizophrenic theme I have a few rustic looking felt and yarn birds with hats looking onto the whole scene from bookcases.

I feel the holiday hodge-podge is like a time capsule of my mental health. It has grown along with my motherhood and child. While some might see it as overwhelming I see our history and our joy. I remember last year when we took everything down right after Christmas the house looked so lonely and barren – it was almost like someone hacked away all the wonder and joy and left an empty shell. As the new year marched through winter, spring and summer the house was once again repopulated with new art work from Texas school, the several foot long twine that runs down the kitchen entrance was filled with mementos, ticket stubs, photos and event invitations all barely held on with tiny clothes pins. And by Halloween the whole downstairs seems to be bursting at the seams with bit and pieces of our days, months and hours.

Halloween to me always marks the beginning of the wonder-season – the magic of matching family costumes, cold weather (hopefully) and the knowledge that in the short time between October and December my life will be bustling with joy. I will see my whole family together in one place at least TWICE in that short period; I will learn new holiday songs from Texas (this year’s was in French) and teach him ridiculous holiday-lore. And when it is time to pack away the ornaments, the glitter covered reindeer and Crisbow (our Elf on the Shelf) I can look forward to what the next holiday will bring – maybe blue and silver for 2014 – really it’s anyone’s guess.