Christmas Spirit

Carl says, even though it's a little over a week away, that I'm not allowed to have Christmas Spirit until after Thanksgiving.  I say BAH HUMBUG to him!  If it were up to me the Christmas decorating would start the day after Halloween.  Forget all this orange and brown.  Give me green, red, and silver.  The more sparkles and glitter the better.

I started my Christmas protest by decking out my blog in yuletide happiness.  Next come the outside lights.  This weekend the Purnell house will be blinging it Christmas style.  I'll probably wait until Thanksgiving day to start the rest of my decorations, but only because I'll be too tired putting up the outside lights (it's the only time of year the bushes and shrubs are pruned.  Gotta look good for the lights, even if it does take me an entire day, two ladders, and a pack of energy drinks to get it all done).

My big decorating project is my Christmas Village.  Way back in the olden days, the 90's, my mom started collecting the Dept. 56 North Pole Village.  Eventually she had over fifty houses!  I guess that was too much because she split her village between the five kids, only keeping a few houses for herself.  That was the start of my own North Pole craziness.  Thankfully Bry loves the village as well.  Every time I add something new to my collection I tell Carl it's really for Bry.  I know he doesn't buy it for a second but it makes me feel more justified (although Bry heard me say that and now he calls it OUR Village.  It doesn't bother me at all).

Below is MY village the first year I displayed it.  We'll pretend, for Carl's sake, that this is still the extent of my village.  Although this year I have the train depot and train set, as well as the Polar Bear palace.  I especially love the palace because, well, it's a palace.

I will never-ever-never put it behind the couch like that again.  First of all, how is anyone to feel like they are actually in the North Pole if there is a big green couch in the way?  No, that just won't due.  Secondly, anyone who sat on the couch came away with fake snow and glitter stuck to them.  Every few days or so I'd have to add more!  Geesh, what a pain.

I'm really excited to put it up this year, but am dealing with a space crisis.  It's gotten so big I might have to use all of the living room furniture to pull it off.  Nobody actually uses the living room....right?