Oh, Theres No Place Like Home For the Holidays

It's that time of the year again. I will let you all know that I am a holiday-a-holic. I begin preparing for Christmas the day after Halloween and I am in full blown holiday mode from November 1st all the way through January 2nd. Thursday night I convinced my  mom and brother to bring up the tree and decorate as a family. Grudgingly, my little brother joined and my mother was enthusiastic to have some help decorating. I must admit, no matter how early I start playing Christmas music and doing my holiday shopping, the tree makes everything feel so much more holly and jolly.

And it never hurts to decorate the home and tree in the comfort of your bathrobe ;). Something else I love about decorating the tree? Every year, as we unwrap the ornaments from the tissue paper, I am excited to see which ornament I'll find next. It is a little like Christmas morning, and every ornament has nostalgic feeling and a special meaning. There are, of course, the paper ornaments you made for your parents (or your children made for you) in kindergarten with little hand prints or pictures with toothless smiles. There is the ornament you received from your best friend as a gift. I could photograph every ornament on our tree and tell you what it means to me, but for the sake of keeping my readership I'll just start with one.

This is the "sapphire angel". She was a gift to me when I was very young, and she gets a special place near the front and top of our tree every year. I love her because she is beautiful, and she holds up her sapphire star lighting the way into a new year. Also, my birthstone is sapphire and she has strawberry blond hair like me. When I was younger I thought someone made her to look like just like me. Now I'm a little older I know that isn't the case, but that doesn't diminish the excitement I get from unwrapping and placing her proudly on the tree each year.

In other news, the semester has (at last) come to a close. It was a hectic semester for me. I had a very challenging social work class that took up much of my time, and when I wasn't studying for that or other classes I was usually working or volunteering. In the midst of it all I managed to find a new job that I love and change my major to one I know I will succeed in and that I find fascinating. Understandably, I am welcoming this winter break with open arms. I am hoping to read, knit, and spend time with the ones that matter most to me.

The Brattleboro and PB hats are both done (yay!) and ready to be photographed any day now. I'm hoping I can feature those in the next post. Along with the Barbie Tree. "What's the Barbie Tree?", you ask. Well stay tuned and perhaps you'll find out.

One more photo before we part. I was inspired to take this photo by my best friend, over at Red Hat Writings, latest post called Amateur.

Until next time, I hope you enjoy family holiday traditions and begin to make  some of your own as well.Happy Holidays!