signs of the season.....

If you had asked me a week ago if I had Christmas in my bones, I would have said NO. Everywhere I turned, people were decorating and asking if I was ready for Christmas. Really, can we celebrate Thanksgiving first?? It just seemed way too early to be buying our tree, or to be hauling out the Christmas decorations, with pumpkins and Pilgrims still on display. I wasn't even in the mood to listen to Christmas music, or go Black Friday shopping{actually, I hadn't even written a gift list yet}. I just think it gets earlier and earlier every year. While the Halloween decorations are being moved to the clearance section, the Christmas stuff takes over, and this is before Halloween is even here! Then there is Thanksgiving, the most under-rated holiday of the year, one of my family's favorite holidays, a day that is becoming quite overlooked. Black Friday is creeping in on my beloved holiday, little by little, I can see it becoming a major shopping day instead of the most perfect day to spend with those you love. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, just cooking, eating, relaxing, watching football, and spending all day together as a family.

Yesterday, I was finally ready to switch gears and start thinking about the holidays. I revved up the Christmas music, and wrote up a gift list and actually took advantage of a few "cyber-monday" deals that were still going on. I spent all day doing laundry, cleaning, organizing, and catching up on some things I had neglected. I made a pot of chili for dinner, and cleaned out the fridge & freezers, and I even packed away the pumpkins! It was a good day! :O)

my favorite!!

I did pick up a few things while I was away on Monday. I found some pretty wrapping paper. I kind of went with a red/white/silver theme this year. I LOVE wrapping paper, I love wrapping gifts....I am not a fan of gift bags, although they can we spruced up with some pretty ribbon & tags.

I also found the perfect Christmas cards....I LOVE Christmas cards. I can't imagine not sending them, and I won't hold it against you if you don't, but you should! LOL Don't you just love getting Christmas cards? I do! I've posted before about my photo card envy, but, I've gotten over it {not really, but I just as well}, but my family is not the photo card kind of family. So, I enjoy looking for the perfect Christmas cards, writing and sending them and displaying all the cards we receive.

{{{LOVE}}}....another great find @ Walmart!

I am not the biggest Walmart fan, but I've had a few good finds there lately. I really liked the pumpkin candle I bought last month, so I checked to see what they had for the holidays. I bought this one:

BH&G Spiced Apple Wreath....smells wonderful!!

We've started buying a Christmas movie each year, and Amazon had an awesome deal on ELF on blue-ray, so I ordered it. I confess, I don't think I've ever watched it!! Maybe just clips, but not the entire movie, so I'm anxious for movie night! Our favorite movie is Christmas Vacation, which we'll watch several times over the holiday.

So, as you can see, there are now signs of the season here at our house. It's a good thing I'm getting into the spirit, because it's less than a month away, and our calendar is already jammed packed!!!!!!!!!