I have ALWAYS been a lover of Christmas time. It is truly the most wonderful time of the year, in my heart. Decorating for Christmas has always been something that my sisters and I look forward to doing together.

This year we decorated for Christmas the weekend before Halloween. Most people would say that it is incredibly too early to start thinking about Christmas, but I think that anytime you feel Christmas cheer is a reasonable time to begin decorating. I know that it is seems extremely early to decorate before Halloween, but in my house there is a good reason. My birthday is two days after Christmas and my sister Kelli’s is two days after mine. Normally we have birthday gatherings very soon after that, so we have to take all of our decorations down on the 26th, which means that we don’t get to leave our decorations up as long as most people would.

Normally it takes us an entire day to decorate the house and each of our rooms. This year we attempted to decorate two Saturday’s before Halloween, but my littlest sister Kourtni was busy with a friend. We had to settle for the next Saturday’s evening because I was working all day at Devine Acres. We managed to get it done, and it turned out better then expected.

Anyway, though decorating is one of the most important factors of Christmas, I think it is even more important to remember that Christmas has a deeper meaning than just decorating and getting presents. Receiving gifts is fun and exciting, but Christmas time should be more about giving to others, sharing love to one another and spending quality time with the people you love most.

There is no other time of year that I am more joyous and cheerful. I challenge you to go out of your way this Christmas season to help someone else feel that same joy. Also, try decorating a little earlier than usual and if you hate it, which you won’t, put it all back and redecorate when you normally would. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!