Saturday, December 01, 2007

Season's greetings: Happy Autumn?

I liked this color combination on display at our local Hallmark store.
Liked it enough to pull out my camera and take a picture.
As I did so, I thought about how as a child I would have been very unhappy to have a brown and turquoise themed Christmas.
Christmas just had to be red and green.

Now brown and turquoise looks just right to me.

Each year market research goes about deciding what colors will be the key colors for Christmas a few years later.
Did you know that?
They decide if the green will be lime, or deep pine, if the red will be mango or tutti fruiti pink. If gold, silver or bronze glitter will be in.
Then babbles and card stock. sweaters and dishware are created (mostly in China, because everyone know China is all about Jesus' being born, right?) about a year in advance.

Even as I type this, there is someone in a factory somewhere in China slipping a tiny golden oval sticker proclaiming "Made In China" on something that will just be perfect for Christmas next year.

The year I got married I was tasked at work with putting up something like 24 Christmas trees. Pink ones with ballerina theme, baby blue ones with choo choo trains. Golden ones, bird ones, icy crystal ones.

They were all absolutely gorgeous.

This year I was tasked with decorating two trees in our library. The ornament were varied, a few were gifts to "the tree" (????whateverthatmeans???) the rest were the most common red, blue, green and white balls ever to be seen.

This month I will not, for the first time in my life, be putting up a Christmas tree in my home at all.
Not a fresh one (although I was sorely tempted to get one as I walked past a Christmas tree lot) nor our massive artificial tree either.
Not even our traditional tiny one in our bedroom just for us.

This year we'll holiday with our kids. And as much as I think Tiggie and Hart would like a tree to explore (again!) I'm going to skip putting up our ornaments just for their enjoyment.

I never thought I would not put up a tree. I'll probably succumb to a fresh swag or wreath, just for the fragrance, and I will definitely be putting out some of what I call "Winter" decorations.
But most of that won't be happening until it gets closer to "winter", which by my calendar, means almost three weeks from now.

Right now, we are still enjoying having morning coffee and the newspaper in the autumn splendor of our patio. The bird watching is simply terrific right now.

In the meantime, I want to thank everyone else who IS decorating every inch of their homes and posting their pictures on their blogs.


I love seeing it.
I appreciate it, and your efforts.

Believe me, as the girl who usually decorates EVERYTHING (changing the tooth brushes to match the holiday colors has even been done...) I know that while it is fun to decorate for Christmas, it also can mean a lot hard work.

Especially when it comes time to take it all down again later....

Thank you fellow bloggers. I will leave my computer screen open on my coffee table to some of your Christmas themed blogs and if anyone asks, I'll tell this this year, I'm decorating cyber style.

And if they want to see how I usually decorate, I'll suggest that they travel backwards in time in my blog.

Last December I posted it all: My Christmas china, my mouse collection, angel collection, both the family Christmas tree and our yearly "wedding anniversary" tree.

If you missed seeing it all, feel free to take a look in the archieves. If you saw it before, well, take another look and pretend that I put all of it up again this year.

Do feel free to drop by my place during the holidays, and join me in a cyber cup of tea.
Since I'm not really decorating, I've got plenty of time to visit!

6 comments:

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Hi Jill, this is a great post. That first shot of the brown and turquoise decorations is beautiful....it matches the colors of your blog in a very aesthetically pleasing way. I will be taking a look at your archives to see what you did last year! I love looking at others' Christmas decorations.

Lovella ♥ said...

Hi Jill,
Really the decorating is for the enjoyment of those we love. If we were travelling away I'd be happy with going from fall/winter decor to spring too.

I can't believe you have what 75 degrees forecast today? Sitting on the patio? Oh wow, it sounds like a tropical winter vacation. As I look out side at the snow falling horizontally and the furnace blowing a nice warm breeze on my feet I'll visit the other blogs and think of you.

L&D said...

I too love the brown and turquoise. I totally understand why you would not want to decorate if you're travelling. I'd do the same thing. Still looking for the tree.....I've resorted to searching outside in the shed and under the porch because that sucker ain't anywhere in the house.

I read your comment on Lovella's blog about how you thought Heidi's comment was telling her to get fat. Oh my word. Laughing and laughing outloud. Jill, I think you are a slightly older version of me....and by older, I'm only talking 5 or 10 years right? I can very much relate to your sense of humor. Gosh, you and I together would be somehin' else!

Onward and upward to find the green beaast....

Kate said...

I'm not decorating much this year either as I am MOVING again! Aghkghkghk!! I did put out a couple of woodland creatures for our Thanksgiving dinner which will also do for Christmas decorations with a little greenery added. That will have to do until I can dig up my ornaments in that Texas storage shed. First tho', gotta find a new address.

You'd love my new pal Elizabeth (met on Paris trip) who lives in Missouri and normally puts up 8 trees for Christmas! How Southern can you get?

Enjoy the Season! Our Weinachtsmarkt opened today. Yay!
K Q:-)

Vicki said...

My friend, I believe you've been reading my mind. Doc has pestered me for a week about decorating for Christmas. I simply do not want to put up a tree, nor do I want to drag out all of those ornaments this year. Besides having lots of other things going on in my life right now (like cleaning up and clearing out my house), I'm just too tired.

Maybe I'll take a cue from you and turn the computer monitors around and pull up photos of someone's beautifully decorated home or tree.

This post was cute!

Anonymous said...

Loved the posting. Your writing and capturing of the spirit of the subject with the pictures captivate me to the point I Sometimes I forget I was there. This post will inspire me to look back and remember the decorations and how much I really loved what you created. B