Holiday Decorating

I love to decorate for holidays. Especially Christmas. Love, love, love it. And based on what I'm reading around blogland right now, I'd say that most of you share my enjoyment.

It seems to me that we all decorate in a cool, relaxed way for summer, then really get back into feathering our nests when fall arrives. Halloween, hello! We enjoy pulling out the pumpkins and all the other paraphernalia that welcomes autumn. And then, after we've eaten the toasted pumpkin seeds, we are ready to rock and roll on into Christmas.

And yet, there's another holiday in there that we all love. As much as I adore Christmas decorating, I'm trying to reserve these few weeks to keep my house decorated for this month's holiday. What I do is simple--I just tweak my autumn decorations by removing the jack-o-lanterns and bringing in a few special Thanksgiving pieces.

For instance, my dining room table now holds our cornucopia. Still using my burlap runner and homemade sconces.

Filling the cornucopia is always fun for me. I found this beautiful horn way back in 1991, when my oldest son was just 10 weeks old. I've loved using it ever since. Its look has changed over the years. When I bought it, it was peach-colored papier mache', which was really something 18 years ago. Not so much today. Its current finish was achieved with espresso spray paint topped with a feather-light dusting of gold; I think I like it. Some of the cornucopia contents are special to me and I pack them up each year: a sheaf of wheat from my mother's native Kansas; a boll of cotton from my father's native Tennessee; buckeyes that my son and I collected on a nature walk 'way back when we lived in Hillsdale, Michigan. Sweet memories.

The table on my porch traded its candy corn hurricanes

for a warmer look: a table runner and a fun lantern.

Actually, the "runner" is just a piece of fabric folded to look like a runner. And here's a closer look at the lantern:

I found it on clearance at Target last year for $9.

The move away from candy corn is actually a very good one for me. I am crazy about candy corn. I mean, certifiably nuts about it. But since August I've had one root canal and two porcelain crowns installed in my mouth. I think my tummy likes candy corn more than my teeth do. It was time for it to go.

In the breakfast room, my dough cabinet is one of my favorite spots for seasonal decorating. I just removed the jack-o-lanterns from my pumpkin collection and added a couple of terra cotta pilgrims and some "Give Thanks" blocks.

These simple changes took just a few minutes of time, but they help me to stay focused on November rather than rushing ahead to December. And since November is the time set aside for giving thanks, it's a good place for me to stay focused.

What about you? Do you decorate for Thanksgiving, or do you like to go ahead and get started on Christmas decorating?

Linked to "Show and Tell Friday" at My Romantic Home