Back at Christmas I posted a little “Holiday House Tour” and you guys were so nice with your praise and compliments! I have continued to field so many requests for posts about home decor and personal style that I was beginning to feel like I had something of a knack for this. This morning, I had to come to terms with why things will never be quite what I would like them to be in this area of my life. I have to be honest with myself. And with you.
So, I have a confession to make.
I have Seasonal Attachment Disorder. (S.A.D for short.)
My tree is still up. MY TREE IS STILL UP!!! I mean seriously! We are in total fire-hazard territory here. Coach says you just have to give the thing a dirty look at this point and it will drop all of it's needles. (Though he has made little effort to take it down either…)
Now, that you have had a chance to catch your breath, you should know that I have strict one-month policy regarding Christmas trees. If we are going to bring this whole tree into our home, I want to keep it up for at least one month from the time we get it so it has the appropriate amount of time to sparkle in our midst. You should also know that we got the tree on December 12th. We are solidly in the two-month range here. Part of the reason it is still up is logistical, trash/recycle guys come on Thursdays and will only take trees every other week and I have been traveling a ton this past two months…but a hefty bit of the reason it is still there is because I just love Christmas decor! And it was so pretty! And I have nothing else to put in that corner…and…
Oh! My mother would never let this happen! That tree would be down, ornaments packed away, and in the mulcher a tidy 7-9 days after Christmas (she is not devoid of feelings…). In fact, if you are reading this and know my mom, please don't tell her. She will be embarrassed. She has done a lot of bragging about me.
But there's more.
If you were to ring my doorbell today, and I invited you in, you would see this:
Yes those are pumpkins. Well, gourds to be precise. Yes, they have been there since Halloween.
The issue here is that they are so darn pretty! Plus, not rotten at all, which engages my practical side. I mean, it's terrible to throw out something that is perfectly good, and still pretty (no, I am actually not a hoarder). Plus, they are white, so I figured we could pass them off as “winter gourds”…it is technically still winter. Do you see the illness here?
So there you have it. I stand here before you, deeply imperfect and possibly in need of help. And I still can think of nothing sadder than a dried up old Christmas tree sitting on the side of the road.
Next to a pumpkin.
Oh boy.
xoxox
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Now I don’t feel so bad for still having a pumpkin on my front porch. My friends have suggested I decorate it for the spring holidays, but I haven’t gone that far yet.
I for one, appreciate your honesty and vow to, “tonite for sure” put the remaining Christmas decorations away. yessirreee. hehe
Throw some pastel colored decorations on that tree and celebrate the coming of Spring. And, keep those gourds. I don’t think they should be strictly Fall decorations. I wouldn’t throw them out. In fact, I have some that are starting to go bad, and I still haven’t thrown them out (it’s on my list for today). Don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed…embrace it, girl!
In addition to my adorable mini-screen door with wreath, there’s a Christmas stocking hung by the chimney with care and other holiday decorations. And by other holiday decorations I really mean other holidays—as in—Halloween and Easter. Oh well. I like to think of it as part of my charm.
I laughed out loud when I got to the second confession. Delightfully and hilariously imperfect. Love it.
Down here in LA they keep trees up thru mardi gras, they just decorate them for mardi gras, then some even keep (fake) ones up to decorate with easter. And just fyi. you’re not off the hook in meeting the requests for posts re: your style and home.
There are pumpkins remaining on my front porch. And those *are* rotting. I was hoping the deer would take care of it. But no. There they sit in decrepitude. Seriously they have to go.
And our Christmas lights are still up. It’s only February after all. What’s the rush?
Thank you for giving me a laugh today. With all the effort we go through to decorate for the Holidays, why not enjoy it for longer than a month.
Haha I laughed out loud when I read this! I wish I could post pictures on here b/c until last weekend my house looked the same way! I thought I got most of it put away but keep finding little things. Like this morning I noticed my guest bathroom still has bright green “vanilla bean noel” christmas soap in there. I’m having company over this weekend and if I don’t buy a new soap in time, I can just turn the bottle to the lable faces the back right?? 🙂
I love it. It’s absolutely fantastic that you still have your pumpkins and your Christmas tree. If you need some encouragement you can always wait a bit longer and then when you take everything to the curb you can put out Easter eggs with your tree and pumpkin (maybe you’ll end up scoring a photo in the local paper). And to make you feel better…I’m also terrible at getting rid of holiday decorations – they’re too pretty – but I admit my tree is gone (my husband has no such affliction). Thanks for making me smile today.
laughter through tears. YOU.ARE.FUNNY! and I love you despite your home turning into the Nightmare before Christmas set. Strong work darling.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. Awesome. Thank you. I feel so much better!
This post made me smile. I appreciate your honesty. I reluctantly packed away Christmas decorations on Valentine’s Day.
heehee!! so happy to have found your blog – i LOVE curlygirldesigns products! and i love this post!! we just took our tree down =( i might have cried a little. no pumpkins still out – you win =)
That is so funny! The ONLY reason ours comes down now is that they will ONLY take it away before Jan 8th—after that, it would just have to stay in the yard—so pressure there. I LOVE this
haha!! you are hilarious! the tree maybe… BUT the pumpkins?!! although, you might as well keep those, we’re already halfway to fall. 🙂
Loving this post, as I look across my dining room at the “winter gourd” still sitting on my sideboard. No spots at all, and I do hope it lasts all year! 🙂
On my way to work this morning, I noticed a Christmas tree sitting on the curb waiting to be taken away. It was definitely not there yesterday. You’re not alone! 🙂
MY TREE IS STILL UP!! though it is fake so we don’t have to worry about needles falling. I just can’t let go of the sparkly, warm feeling I get from sitting on my couch and having twinkling lights by my side 🙂
Guilty of S.A.D. also, with the exception that I use fake trees so they can stay up year-round. Yes, I used the plural, cause I just can’t resist having corners here and there in my house that have something with lights. I keep a small one in an old crock of my grandma’s in my breakfast nook and it is always decorated for the celebration at hand; right now it is all decked out for Valentine’s; in March I’ll do a Spring theme, change in July, September will be Fallish, add some Halloween stuff in Oct, Thanksgiving items in Nov and then the granddaddy of them all, Christmas. Then I have some smaller trees perched here and there and the largest in a corner of my living room, smaller one perched in brass umbrella stand in my dining room – I’m addicted! My office is my ‘Christmas room’ so I always have some of my fav Christmas items around me; one wall is even painted red, curtains are red and green plaid. Anyway, I don’t think it at all odd that you can’t bring yourself to take yours down, but I really would advise getting a fake one – so much easier and heartier to decorate…
I am hopelessly addicted to the holidays too. I paint my Halloween pumpkins precisely because it makes them last longer and it isn’t uncommon for them to be in our Christmas pictures because I have been known to put them under the tree. My Christmas tree goes up November 1st and it comes down when I am tired of looking at it. (This year it was in February, last year it was in JULY and I redecorated it every month for different holidays.) This just adds to your charm, no harm, no foul.