Two Reasons . . .

There are two things that my house has in common with the North Pole:

1. It is freezing here today. At least, that it what my in-laws told us when they came over for Thanksgiving dinner. Troy and I haven't actually left the house at all. This is one of the benefits to hosting holiday meals
2. We are currently 90% decorated with Christmas cheer. That's right, I even have Christmas music playing on our laptop as I type, and I am loving every single second of it. Once Troy's parents left our home, I waited approximately five minutes (this is a rough estimate and could quite possible be even less time than previously stated) before I went out to the garage to get our Christmas tree out of the attic. Quite honestly, that is a record for me considering I generally decorate the weekend before Thanksgiving since we are usually out of town. This year we hosted the turkey dinner (which was fabulous, by the way) so I couldn't decorate as early as I wanted to.

Our house is only 90% decorated for another two reasons:
1. I have not yet put the ornaments on our tree because we have two little, furry friends who are curious as most cats are. Molly has already sat under the tree a couple of times, looking up to the top, probably wondering if she can climb it and how long it would take her. And I am still waiting for Olivia to knock the tree over as she does at least once or twice a year. For this reason, I usually wait a day or two to put the ornaments up in hopes that the novelty of the seasonal climbing wall wears off.
2. We are currently renovating our bathroom (which will soon be the topic of a completely different blog) and since we are going to be lugging a new bathtub, vanity and a few sheets of drywall up our stairs, I can't put our beautiful, pre-lit garland up on the banisters, which is a crying shame. I patiently waited for them to go on sale at the after Christmas sale at Target two years ago. Last year I put the up and loved every minute of their radiant glow winding up our staircase. But this year I have to wait . . . (sniffle).

We are fake-tree people at the Carlson Christmas Casa. I know that for some this is blasphemous. I think there have been times where I have actually offended people by admitting this. Apparently these individuals are involved in the Merry Christmas Militia or something to make them feel so strongly. In some ways, I can see their point. I mean, I claim to be a Christmas aficionado and here I hang my precious and memorable ornaments on branches of lies. You need to hear me out though, we have a fake tree for yet another two reasons:

1. I can keep my Christmas tree up for much longer than if I had a real one because eventually the needles all fall off, therefore allowing me to keep the title of a true Christmas aficionado.
2. One time, my parents heard about a woman who bought a real tree and there was spider's nest in the trunk. When the tree was in her warm house, the eggs hatched and there were spiders everywhere!! EEK!! Even hearing that story second hand was enough to freak me out and I don't think I can even go chop down my own tree now.

So, here I sit, enjoying my lovely Christmas decorations, in all their fake splendor. This really is the best part of the holiday season because today I know that I have all this time to revel in the Carlson Christmas Cheer spread throughout our house. I am far away from the saddest day of the year. The day that I have to say goodbye for now to all these wonderful decorations, put them back in their boxes and up in the cold attic to sleep until next year. Today, I get to anticipate the whole Christmas season.

Beginning to Look Like Christmas

Saying I love Christmas might be the world's biggest understatement. Here's how much I love Christmas.

1. One time my sister, Laura and I jammed out to Christmas music when we were riding in the car. It was July.
2. The day after Christmas is one of the saddest days of the year for me because I know I have 364 days until I can celebrate it again. I am seriously bummed out.
3. One time, my friend, Krista, and I had a sleepover downstairs by the Christmas tree when we were roomies. It was awesome. We kept the tree lights on all night.
4. Krista and I would also decorate the week before Thanksgiving because we wanted to get ample enjoyment from the decorations.
5. I have a shirt that says "Santa's Little Helper." I bought it as an adult.
6. I generally have a Christmas song stuck in my head from the day after Thanksgiving until January and sometimes, even later than that.
7. I love telling perfect strangers, "Merry Christmas" instead of saying "goodbye".
8. One of the reasons we got married in December is partly due to my love of Christmas and the way the church is decorated during that time. (Here is where I am shamelessly uploading a picture from the big day. Aren't the Christmas decorations in the background awesome?! We took these outside the train depot.)

Now that you know how much I love Christmas, you can only imagine my delight when I went to Target today and found a small isle, tucked behind the Halloween costumes and skulls, that contained the beginnings of Christmas decor. I walked down the isle, slowly, looking forward to the next few weeks when that one isle would soon grow into many isles, like a Chia Pet. I picked up a few boxes of Christmas cards, imagining our friends and family opening up our Christmas cheer and hanging them with the other holiday greeting cards they have collected this season. I looked at the duffel bags for Christmas trees and imagined myself pulling ours out of the attic and fluffing up her branches like a prom dress. And then . . . well, then I was at the end of the isle and realized that my ground turkey was going to smell funky if I didn't get myself to the check out lanes, but I did hum "Go Tell it on the Mountain" while on my way.

You may have gathered that I am not one of those people who sees Christmas decorations in October and grumbles about how Christmas keeps coming earlier and earlier. I love that fact!! **Side Note: You should know that I am probably going to have a ton of Christmas-themed blogs in the up coming months due to the my love of this topic.** I know that there are not many of my kind out there. In fact, I only know of two other people who love Christmas as much as I do: Laura and Krista. Everyone else I know seems to be able to contain themselves long enough to wait for Christmas until the "appropriate" time. What a big, fat, bummer fest. No thank you.

We usually travel down to Chicago for Thanksgiving, but this year we are staying in the Twin Cities. When Troy and I made our decision to stay, one of my first thoughts was, "Now, I'm going to have to wait to decorate for Christmas!" I usually decorate the week before, using the excuse that we will be out of town. Since we are having Thanksgiving at our house, I'm going to have to wait until at least our guests leave to pull out my old friends.

Anywho, all of this to say, it's official - at least for retailers and for me - the Christmas season has begun, and I couldn't be more excited!

I ♥ HGTV

Troy is out spending time with the boys tonight, so what am I doing? Watching HGTV obviously! I think I watch HGTV as much as Troy watches ESPN. (Wow, that is a loaded sentence.) I seriously love that channel though. House Hunters, Dear Genevieve, Curb Appeal, Sarah's House, Holmes on Homes, Divine Design, Tough as Nails, Selling New York - I love them all. I even saw an HGTV application that you can put on your iPhone which I want . . . even though I don't have an iPhone. Minor complication.

Because of this television station, I say things like, "That house has good bones," or "The windows on the cabinets really makes the light bounce around the kitchen." This channel even motivates me to destroy things . . . well and then make them look awesome. For example, one day I was minding my own business, trying to do a load of laundry, when I realized the single shelf we had holding the detergent, dryer sheets, box of rags, and other items was not very efficient. If I needed something that was on the back of the shelf, I had to clear the front part of the shelf off to reach it. (I am what you would call 'vertically challenged'.) So, I decided to take the shelf down and buy a shelving unit instead. When I ripped the shelf out, I realized I was going to have to spackle and sand the screw holes that had once held up my dinky shelf, so I figured, I might as well paint the room while I am at it. Then while I was painting, I made a few splatters on the floor - I hate using drop cloths - which then made me decide to rip up the linoleum and lay down some peel and stick tile. Troy came home from work while I was in the middle of my "little" project and wondered what happened to the simple assembly of a shelving unit. The laundry room did turn out awesome and for a week I wanted to sleep in there. I would seriously make pit stops to the laundry room whenever I passed the front foyer. I owe this little project to shows like Dear Genevieve and Design to Sell.

This summer, I decided to revamp my little garden area in our back yard. I finally mustered up the courage after watching many episodes of Curb Appeal:The Block. I raked all the river rocks off the area, dug up our four giant hostas -oh my lanta, that was a job!-, toiled and added more rich soil and then began my replanting process. I cut the hostas up into sixteen parts and planted them along the border of the house. Then I bought a baby blue hydrangea -which I love like a child- and planted it in front of the air conditioner. After I planted my two lily of the valley plants, I finished off the look with ceder chips. Let me tell you, it looks awesome. And it should, I had blisters for a week and my back was sore for two days!

Although these projects make the house look nicer, I am starting to wonder if I watch too much HGTV. Could the old cliché of having too much of a good things be true? I mean, when I am in the HGTV mode, I really just feel like grabbing a sledge hammer and demolishing something only so I can put it back together. If I had the right tools, I probably would be doing more of that. Troy would come home from work and a wall would be missing in the kitchen or I would designed a spa bathroom upstairs. This is a great time to give a huge shout out to our friend, Craig "Mophats" Berg, who graciously loans me his tools for my projects. I have borrowed so many tools from Mophats, you would think he was a Rent-a-Center. I am surprised he doesn't have me put a down payment down when I come over. Which reminds me, I am making you some cookies, Fo, as a thank you.

One night, Troy and I were in our upstairs bathroom and he asked me if I thought we should rip up the linoleum in our upstairs bathroom and put down tile . . . I may or may not have drooled at the thought of picking out tile. The next day I had to go to Home Depot (to get supplies for another project) and I decided to browse the tile selection. All of a sudden I had a vision of a spa tub, complete with jets, subway tile running along the walls and glass back splashes . . . then I ran for my car. The job that my brain conjured up was much too big for me, but it was fun to think about. Maybe someday when we live in our forever house we can do something like that.

All this demo and reno talk makes me want to paint or stain something. I have seriously thought about painting the trim in our house white (which would make my dad freak out) just so I could put up crown molding. Man, I love that stuff. I might need to cut myself off to house projects cold turkey . . . or be a designer in my next life so that I can have people pay me to buy their stuff and then boss around my contractor to do the heavy lifting.

Grown Ups

Most of the time, grown ups get a bad wrap. Let's be honest, there are a lot of responsibilities we have to face when we get to that life stage. There is the housing situation. Whether you are paying rent or your mortgage, you are still depleting your checking account. You realize that dinner didn't just magically appear on the table like it did when you were living with mom and dad. Now you find out you have to buy the food AND prepare it. This takes time and money. Clean laundry doesn't make its way back in your closets and dresser drawers. And, you have to pay taxes. You can see now why Peter Pan was such a big hit.

However, I have to say I think being a grown up is awesome. This probably stems from the fact that I have been a grown up since I was nine. As a kid I was serious and responsible. My room was always clean and organized and I was always concerned about my "future." Of course then the goal of the "future" was getting through the fourth grade. One time a neighbor came to the door and asked if I could play. I told her no because I had to work on my spelling words. She asked why I didn't just do them after dinner and I told her that if I wait that long, my heart starts to feel weird. True story. This is how a child tries to describe her anxiousness to another child. Another time, I was up late studying. My dad saw my light on and was annoyed at me for putting off my studies until the night before the test. He came in my room and told me that I was just going to have to face the music because it was time for bed. "Next time don't wait for the night before to study for your test." I gave him a quizzical look and told him I was studying for a test that wasn't until next week. When I was older he told he that had I baffled him because he was a fly-by-the-seat kind of student and couldn't figure out why you would "cram" for a test that was a week away. Like I said, I took myself seriously. I was a grown up long before the state recognized me as such.

That being said, I like being an adult because I feel more comfortable in my skin. This is probably true for a lot of people since growing up by definition is awkward, but there are still lots of great reasons why being a grown up is so awesome. Here are a few:

1. Bed Times. I can stay up as late as I want, even on a school night!! (Gasp!!) I don't have anyone telling me that it is 8:30 and I have to go put my jammies on and go to bed. It was especially aweful in the summer when it was still light out and you could hear the neighbors riding their bikes and loving life. "But Mom, Dave and Jessica are out playing still, why can't we?" Same response every time: "I'm not Dave and Jessica's mom." But now that I'm a grown up . . . I'll stay up as late as I want!!! Boo-yah.

2. Meals. I love to cook, which is handy because I also love to eat. The best part is I can make all the meals I like and leave out all the icky stuff I don't. Like creamed corn. I hate that stuff. Sometimes my mom made it and it looked like heated up puke in her Calphalon sauce pan. Or . . . (gulp) . . . kitchen kiev. Yuck. To Troy's great dismay, I can't eat that stuff. He loves it, and for his sake, I thought about making it from scratch because I really can't stand the packaged stuff. The problem is that I hate the packaged stuff so much, I can't bring myself to make it home-made. Catch 22. Finally, there were the fish sticks. Blech. My dad worked a lot of late nights so this became a staple protein for our dinners sans dad. I will never buy fish sticks, and you know what? I have that right. Why? Because I am a grown up. Boo-yah.

3. Decor. Growing up, Laura and I were drug to a lot of stores for the purchases that my parents needed to make. Sometimes it was super frustrating for us because they never wanted to take our suggestions and Laura and I felt like we were part of the family, living in the same house so we should get a say in things like furniture. Our selections were always veto-ed. The conversations would go something like this:

Kids: Mom! Dad! Look at this awesome couch that is shaped like an octogan with fuzzy cheetah print!! This would look awesome in the family room!! We could lounge around on it while we watch movies! I bet it would be good for parties and stuff!! Can we get this one?

Parents: No. We don't like that.

Kids: What?! Don't like it? But it's awesome! None of our friends have a couch like this!

Parents: When you pay for the furniture, you can get whatever you want.

Well . . . since I am a grown up, I will do just that. Boo-yah.

4. Rules. I am pretty sure that every kid has hear his/her parent say, "When you live under my roof, you will obey my rules!" The problem is that sometimes those rules were lame. Now, I make my own rules. I can spoil my dinner with ice cream, I don't have to do my cleaning on Saturdays, and my curfew is whenever I feel like coming home. And this is all because . . . . I am a grown up. Boo-yah.

5. Marriage. Sometimes Laura and I would play the scenario where our Barbie would marry the Ken dolls. **Side Note: We never used the names 'Barbie' and 'Ken' for our dolls. That was lame. My girl's name usually changed a lot, but Laura's was consistently Elizabeth. ** The wedding was always as awesome as an eight-year-old can imagine, but after the wedding, Ken, or Mike, Chris, etc, would be plopped on our plastic, pink Barbie couch to watch TV for the remainder of our playing time. Real life marriage is way more fun. I mean, Real Life Ken does watch a lot of TV, but at least his arms aren't at a permanent right angle. And, my wedding was way better than our Barbie scenario. Now, Troy and I get to do all the fun things I mentioned above because we are married adults . . . and we can. Boo-yah.

Those are just a few reasons why being an adult is so awesome. Although, sometimes I look at my students and think, you are so lucky. You're seven. You don't have bills, you don't have a job and your biggest concern is whether you will get the latest Hannah Montana t-shirt. I reflect on if I were given the chance, would I trade places with them. The answer: no way, josé!! Because those kids still have to face things that I would never want to repeat. Things like junior high school and puberty. I already dominated those challenges!! I guess that would be another reason that being a grown up is awesome.

Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of 'Yo mamma' jokes, and bodily functions will always be funny to me. I still like to play dress up except now the high heels fit me and I am not dragging my grandma's around the house like flip flops. I like to act silly around Troy and sometimes I am still just a 12-year old. But I can be. Because I am a grown up.

A big, fat boo-yah to that.