Christmas arrives earlier every year... and I'm okay with that.

Sure, Christmas is more than a month away still, but I don't care. The sooner the decor comes out, the sooner I can justify baking Christmas cookies and fudge. Lots of fudge of various sorts. The sooner I have Santa figurines, trees, pine candles, red berries, greenery, sparkling ornaments, and twinkling lights all around me, the sooner I can begin replaying christmas music in the kitchen, and watching Santa Clause movie marathons in the living room. We've watched Santa Clause 2 3 times already. The kids are starting to have the classic Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Frosty movie's memorized. Santa Clause 2 is obviously my favorite movie, since I've always dreamed of becoming Mrs. Claus. Come on, how cute would I be in the Mrs. Claus outfit? VERY darn cute. I would totally marry Tim Allen, too. Think about it. Mrs. Clause is the only job whose description I fit perfectly: baker, teacher, mother, wife, tree lover, letter reader, decorator, pleasantly plump, cookie and cocoa expert, and Christmas lover. See? Perfect. Oh, I'm Finnish, so don't tell me there's no such thing as Santa. He lives in Finland. For real. See here. I should see if he's hiring.

I don't have the tree up yet. Two years ago I went against everything I once believed and bought a giant beautiful fake tree. I decided killing a real pine each year only to let it dry out in my home was wrong. I'm a real tree hugger, in the flesh. We tried a real tree, live with roots ready to plant one year, but the January cold did not make for a good planting time here in Wisconsin. Duh. So, a faux tree it is. When Theo was in Iraq Ben and I, and Hunter in my belly, went to every store in town, searching for the perfect tree. I found it at Menard's. I didn't even think of how I'd get it home; the Menard's employee helped me squish the thing into my 4 door car, bending the box in some serious ways. Then, when I got home and set it up I found myself thinking, "Oh my goodness, it looked so much smaller in the store!" Yeah, Menards 45 foot ceilings and vast area made the tree that took up half my living room look darn near dwarf. It takes me 2 days to get the thing up. Usually the day after Thanksgiving I put up the tree. Then the next day I decorate it. This year, Theo has plans that weekend, so I think we may have to put up the tree earlier? Gee, darn.

Merry Christmas & Holiday Season everyone!