OK, people may frown upon this, but I do not care.
This past weekend, I assembled and decorated my Christmas tree.
What’s that you say? It’s not even Thanksgiving?
Yeah, I got the memo. But if you think that was going to stop me, you were mistaken.
My fiance and I struck up a deal this year: If he bought the pre-lit tree, I was responsible for buying its decorations. Well of course as soon as Wal-Mart came out with their ornament selection, I was the first one in line with red bows, bells with glitter and the standard multi-colored balls everyone else has. And this was back in October.
Not only that, but there is a jingle bell wreath on the front door and stockings hung on the wall next to our tree (I even bought a stocking for our cat, Baylee, that says “Good Kitty” on it). Yeah, go ahead and laugh. This is a sickness I refuse to seek treatment for.
I look forward to Christmas all year long, so when it finally nears, I get a jump-start on the traditions that go along with it.
No really, the saddest day of the year for me is Dec. 26 because I feel like all the music and traditions have to be packed away for a whole year again.
Bonus: While we were decorating, I popped in my Elvis Presley Christmas CD to get us in the spirit.
This might be weird, but it is just not Christmas without Elvis. (Without it, it really is a “blue blue blue blue blue Christmas” — excuse the cheese.)
My dad made that his own tradition, and it just stuck with me.
I have started thinking what my own traditions will be with the family I am going to start one day. I mean, of course Elvis will still be alive on my stereo, but what can I start that is uniquely my own?
Well, I guess I will start with my first tradition being decorating a week before Thanksgiving. The rest will come in due time, I suppose.
In the mean time, I still make myself aware Christmas is not just about the traditions of decorating and gift giving/receiving or the break from a semester of agonizing classes.
It is a celebration of a birth I choose to believe and put faith in. Now, I need to get back to watching “Elf.”
Lauren Smith is the associate intrigue editor of The Auburn Plainsman. You can reach her at 844-9109.
