Holiday

[homedecor1]

@Susan Louise

see this is why I can't "downsize" or not decorate...your tree is gorgeous! Now I want a tree!!!! (I use my ceramic one from my mom).

hmmmmm maybe I need to stay off here for awhile...nope, won't happen!!!! Lol

[CAMOGIRL]

Simply -  because we can!! 

Because it is fun. Because it is pretty. Because it puts us in a holiday mood.

So - decorating divas - keep decorating!! No matter how little, no matter how much - just have fun with it and then sit back and enjoy it!! 

[MickD]

I do it for my family.  Halloween - we decorate to the max outside and our neighbors love it......same with Christmas.

[beach-mom]

I love reading all of these posts! Why do I do it? @Julie928 - you answered it for me. Like you, I enjoy surrounding myself with pretty things. I absolutely love seasonal decorating, and I always have!

My mom did a great job of this. Of course she had beautiful decorations at Christmas, but she also had a FEW touches during other times of the year. 

I started with that, then took it to the extreme! It is also fun for me. My closest friends love to do this too, and together we love going to shops and getting those little touches we want to add. We actually used to have a "field trip" two times a year when we made a day of it, having lunch and shopping! 

Fall has always been my favorite time to decorate. DS was born right before Halloween. We started getting one Department 56 Halloween house each year for him, and of course I put them all out. The one rule I had was no skeletons or anything else horrifying. During high school, he had a big costume party each year when our home was overrun with teens. It was so much fun! He's in college now, so I don't put all of the houses out any longer. But I do put a lot out!

A lot of my friends are downsizing, like many here. They are concerned about having a lot of decorations, and what to do with them. It will be hard for me when I have to face that. So until then, I will keep enjoying what I have and how my decorations make my home look! 

I love seeing the pics posters share with us, and one of these days I will figure out how to post my own! I also like getting great ideas here.

[itsdee]

Your tree is lovely.  I think I'm in love with the owl (?).

It is a wonderful thing that a mom can leave a child with something invaluable, that did not have to cost  a lot of money.

I decorate to celebrate life.  To balance my life, which can be mundane, stressful, uninspired...you fill in the blank.  Seasonal decorating is an event.  It's me blessing my humble home was some of the glory that it deserves. (It's not my house's fault that there is little money for improvements or a face-lift)

Oh.  Let me not forget....it's fun!

[qualitygal]

OP, so far I've only read your post.  I agree with a lot of what you said. I love to surround myself with things I enjoy and think are pretty/beautiful. Mostly it's fall and Christmas time for me. Memories, traditions and meanings.

[qualitygal]

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@CareBears wrote:

@LIG1 When she first died I did not want to celebrate Christmas without her, and someone definitely yelled in my ear and told me to Stop IT, that Christmas is a time to show love and to come together, and YES to remember past holidays to carry on the traditions, and I listened, and followed the advice I so needed at the time.  I set a flameless candle on the window in the kitchen (so Mom can see it  from heaven) at midnight on Christmas EVE, and tell her Merry Christmas Mom, I love you and miss you, and I know she wakes up on Christmas morning to the sound of the most beautiful choir that is made up of angels, she being one of them

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That's beautiful. I hope my dear mom is standing right next to your dear mom on Christmas morning. 

[Oggi]

why do we do it? lol,.. because its what we were taught, although, those traditions are dying.. My daughters, may try to replicate, but,.. truth be told,.. they dont have the enthusiam our mothers had,.. I will forever love hot cross buns and chrysanthemum's.

[qualitygal]

@homedecor1, Can you give your excess decorations to the shelters in your area.  If they accept them, it's a place that I thought about the other day, that probably could use some cheer at the holidays.  I think this area is something I'm going to be giving more thought to too.  I don't want them forgotten about, just because we get so busy with all our plans.

[jubilant]

I do it for so many reasons already listed here.  I only really decorate for Autumn (Thanksgiving) and Christmas.  I think it lifts the spirit....at least for me it does.