Ever find yourself really wishing you had more time to get ready for Christmas... December just seems to SNEAK up on you? Well, maybe we can make a difference... together!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Feeling kinda ... blue.......And.... a GIVEAWAY!

 Well... the tree situation is under control. 

If you know me well... or even just a little... you will know that
BLUE is my most least FAVORITE color.... 
But strange things happen every now and again.... 

Last year, the day after Christmas... I just HAPPENED to be in a store that was doing "CLEARANCE" on Christmas stuff... (WHO can pass that up???) ... So, I meandered over and found some GREAT bargains!  
I was so super excited... 
I had such BIG dreams! 
HIGH hopes! 
And an AMAZING imagination..... 
I was just going WILDLY-CRAZY!!! 
I had a WILD HAIR.... 
(yes my Mr. HATES it when I get a WILD hair! LOL!) 
I needed a change for the upcoming year and this sale was PERFECT timing! 
My vision..... 
3 BIG trees....
1- 7' in the front room
1-12-15' in the family room-upstairs
1- 9' in the family room downstairs
THEN...
While I was dreaming.... 
I decided that each of my kids should have trees in their bedrooms as well.... 
oh... and the guest room and MY room....
And it worked out PERFECT too... I found 2' and 3' trees for $2.00 for the set of 2!  STEAL!!! I was so super happy!!!!!  I just couldn't wait until next Christmas....
only 364 days to go!!!! YEAH!!!! 
Only one problem... well two.... I only had one BIG tree - the 7' that we had been using for several years... so I still needed to find a 9' and 12/15'.... no problem... I have 330 days or so to find them...
Yeah right...Bigger TASK than I even imagined!
  Here we are.... 11 months later and I still have not found either tree... I'll keep looking though..... THEN our NORMAL tree - decided to bite the dust as well..... but we got that issue under control (as you know) and it was time to move on.... so..... I pulled out the NEW decorations..... 

Now... just for the record -
(confession time) 
YES! I am OCD! 
(about a lot of things - but we are just talking TREES today!) 
So, from here on out - (well, all along actually) my intent is NOT to offend anyone!  
It is just I....
ME... 
it is MY problem... 
and yes- I know some are offended by it... 
but I in know way mean to offend anyone.... EVER!  
(Are we clear on that??? :)) Please...keep that in mind....

Each of my trees has a "THEME" 

Family Room - (downstairs) - "FAMILY FUN"  
Which consists of a tree made of "events" that have happened through the year 
(so each year new ones are added) 
Colors: Red, Gold and Black 
(yes, the ornaments are the same... homemade - but the same!)

Family Room - (upstairs) - "SWEET SHOP" 
Which consists of gingerbread boys and girls and sweet treats... 
Colors: Red & White 
(again, homemade - yet all the same..) 

Front Room - "WINTER WONDERLAND"  
Which consists of snowflakes, icicles and bells. 
Colors: White, Silver & Blue... 
(struggling with this tree....) 

WAIT!!! HOLD THAT THOUGHT..... 
Did I just say BLUE!?!?! I must be feeling under the weather for sure.... 
(The funny part about this.... as I was "decorating" the tree (alone... by myself... as usual.... because someone is OCD about their tree.... please don't ask why ;)) every single family member... and I mean EVERY... SINGLE... ONE.... one by one would walk in to "CHECK" the status of the tree and they would say

"MOM! You do know that is blue, don't you?"  
or
  "MOM! I thought you hated blue"  
or
"MOM! are you feeling ok? I thought you hated blue... 
but you just did our entire tree in BLUE!?!?" 
or
"WOW.... do you like it mom?".... 

OK EVERYONE!!! 
I see that this is BLUE... 
YES I feel fine.... 
YES I still am not a fan of blue.... 
YES I KNOW it is different..... 
and hmmmmm I'm not so sure I LIKE it just yet...
I'll have to let it sit on me for a while.....
BUT I have now officially decided that I am NOT taking it apart to re-decorate!  
So.... YEP! I'm feeling a bit BLUE...

But... here ya go! 
I'm still "tweaking" it a bit 

I removed my draperies (because they were brown - and that SO DID NOT GO! I tried putting some "tulle" along the window - then hung some snowflakes... not sure it's quite what I'm looking for... so still working on that as well.... 


 And then... there is this tree.... 

The tree my kids are REALLY missing this year... the SWEET SHOP tree!
(and I think I'm missing it too!)

I was ready for a "CHANGE" (or I thought I was) but apparently my "BLUE" has really affected everyone.... oops! LOL!   I am still frantically trying to make a "small" tree out of the "broken" trees to put the SWEET SHOP tree together.... But until then.... we're just feeling BLUE around here :) 
Which.... leads me to GIVEAWAY #4!!!! 
HALLELUJAH!  
(I know that is what you are thinking right.... :)) 

Here is my problem... I told you I'm OCD about my trees.... (and I honestly do NOT know why!) I love seeing how people decorate their trees... and they always look so FABULOUS!! I just love the "primitive, country, whimsical trees.... BUT.... Then... I come home ... and I just can't do it! (and I curse.... I mean thank my dad for passing along his "perfectionist" gift to me...) I drive myself CRaZy most of the time with it - so I KNOW I annoy others..... 

Anyway... PROBLEM:
ALL the ornaments that the kido's make... 
at school... 
at church functions...
on their own time ... 

What is a MOM with OCD-ness (otherwise known as "perfectionalism" of the tree) to do with all the "said" ornaments?  It is heart breaking... it really is.... I LOVE them with all my heart! (the kids and their ornaments, just to clarify)... BUT I just can NOT bring myself to putting them on "THE" tree! I know... that makes me a horrible mom....I know this!  It really breaks my heart.... I've tried... I truly have... But I just can't.... I drives me UP THE WALL, CRAZY, NUTS... it stresses me!!!   I even decided one year... well in advance... I needed to allow the kids to decorate "THE" tree with their ornaments... I talked to myself daily about it... repeating "I can do this....I can do this... it is ok... life will be fine.... it's for the kids.... they will love it.... You can do this... you really can..."  I even decided that if I went and purchased "MULTI-COLORED" lights for the tree it would be better... with the "disarray-meant" of colored lights (no uniform structure) and the "MULTI-ORNAMENTS", it would be just fine.... we put up the tree.... it lasted... (I hate to say this...) less than 18 hours... while the kids were at school I undressed the tree and redressed it with the "SWEET SHOP".... funny thing was... my kids didn't even notice... SHEW!  I was safe.... until.... this year... my 9 year old said as she was "unloading" each Christmas bin... "Oh mom! Look! Here is the box full of all the ornaments that all of the children have made for you... are you going to put them on the tree this year....(long pause, because I was desperately searching for the "correct" answer ... the one that would not hurt her feelings...) she continued "or are you just going to leave them in this box so that my nieces don't ruin them".... AWE!!! Good thought Bry~ that is it... "Yep... I think it will be best if we keep them safe in the special box marked "Made with love from my favorite little people" don't you agree?"  "Yeah mom, I think that is a good idea this year....(long pause again) but, if I don't have any new nieces or nephews next year, do you think that we could put them on the tree?"  My reply... "Oh, I'm sure we can figure out something".... ... and inside... I'm praying for ONE of the married kids to announce a new family member will be joining us.... (OH I AM A BAD, SELFISH MOM!

SO... here is the GIVEAWAY comment this week.....

Leave me a comment... answering this question.... 

1- Are you a OCD "Tree Snob", (as a new blogging friend deemed us) or are you perfectly content with perfect traditional tree? (1 entry)

2-What do YOU do with all those ornaments made by the little people in your life?
I wanna know.... and I know there are other OCD TREE HOGS  that wanna know too...



Extra entries:
1-Become a follower - or if you are already - just let me know
2-Grab my TIS THE SEASON TO SHARE button over to the right - and post it either on your side bar or in a blog post - and come back and tell me you did
3-Write about this giveaway on your blog - come back and let me know you did (be sure to "link" your posting back to my blog) 

Pretty SIMPLE.... 
You'll never guess what the prize is for this GIVEAWAY!!! 

HEE HEE HEE!!!!! 

Giveaway ends SUNDAY DEC. 4, 2011,  8:00 pm

 

15 comments:

  1. LOL!!!

    You have hit the nail on the head!! We could be sisters!!
    I do all of my trees myself. Joe carries them into the room. That is it!. I shape them, do all the lights, do the garlands, ribbons or whatever I am doing on that particular tree and the ornaments. Now mind you that I have a 7 foot one in the Living Room and a 7 foot slim one in the Dining room. These each take me one whole day.I have a 6 foot in the Craft Room, a 6 foot potted one in the guest room, a 4 foot one in the Den and another 4 foot one in the Master Bedroom, a 3 foot one in the Kitchen and a 2 1/2 foot one in the Powder Room. PLUS several trees with just lights in various sizes through out the house. Yep, there will be 16 trees this year!!
    And you talk about being OCD!! LOL!!
    Now when my boys were small, this was how I got away with not having the hand made ornaments on the formal Living Room tree. They each had 3 foot trees in their bedrooms and the ornaments that they used to decorate their trees with were the ones they made in school, CCD and Cub Scouts.. They could do whatever they wanted to with their OWN trees!! One year my oldest son wanted all blue lights on his tree and that was what he got...
    When they moved out, I gave them their hand made ornaments to decorate their own tree with....LOL!!

    By the way, your trees look stunning!!

    Hugs,
    Debbie

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  2. What a fun post!I am not a tree snob and my MOST favorite color is BLUE! I do love that you have themes for each of your trees! And as far as ornies...I like to put some in a big bowl to enjoy...or a basket! Enjoy your day, my friend! ♥

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  3. Thanks so much for leaving comments on my blog! I'm so glad to have found yours!! I'm a little pressed for time right now...I'll be writing about that soon...but I'll definitely be back to read more of yours. I had to laugh about you being OCD because I told my daughter Sunday night what I was about to do on Monday morning (this is what I'll be posting about), and she could not believe it and told me I was OCD!! Yea, maybe I am, I just can't help it. I try not to be a perfectionist and with some things I can get away with it, but when it comes to decorating and my Christmas tree, yea, I'm a perfectionist! When my children were small, I let them help decorate the tree, but when they weren't looking, I would distribute the ornaments evenly about the tree. I have their hand made decorations on my tree though. There were some years that they were not on the tree. Maybe as Debbie suggested they could each have a small tree in their rooms with their decorations on it. Or, maybe you could just have one small tree with all of their hand made decorations on it. That would be cute. I love your white, silver and blue tree. That color combination is perfect together.

    Well, gotta go but I'll be back to visit again! :-)

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  4. Traditionalist, majorly!
    jessicawedwards@gmail.com

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  5. Hello, as promised, I blogged about your great give-aways!!!
    Check it out: http://www.awhimsicalchristmas.com/

    Let me know if you want me to add or change anything.
    love, Jonquil

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  6. I am so happy that I found your blog. I LOVE your Christmas trees that you have up and the snowflakes in your window!

    I am sure I am OCD for Christmas trees, my husband laughs but I love them. We have the large one in the livingroom, one 6ft german tree in my office, one in my Hubby's office,3 YES 3 in my kitchen and one in our bedroom!

    I would love to enter in your giveaway, I am a follower and I really enjoyed your post and it did make me laugh, I am not the only one!!!LOL!

    Christmas Blessings,
    Tricia
    I hope you hop on over and check out my blog!!!
    I would love to see ya!

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  7. I guess you could say that to an extent I am like you. I have done our trees by myself for years. Husband will give his input but never seems to help which is fine. He did ask this year if I would do the snowman tree in the living room. Needless to say we ended up buying a lot more lights as it is usually on a 6 foot tree and the living room tree is 7 1/2 foot.

    I do several themed trees each year. My kitchen tree is candy and gingerbread. Over my mantle I have a 4 foot wall tree done in angels in memory of my mom. She was an angel collector.

    My main tree has always been what I call my online friendship tree. It consists of almost all handmade ornaments exchanged with online friends. I have to admit that all my kids and grandkids hand made picture ornaments are still hung there every year. And they always look each year to make sure I hung them.

    My parents and also my husband and I bought an ornament each year for our girls so when they left home they took there ornaments to use on their trees.

    When each girl was a Senior we did a 4 foot tree for them to honor there favorite college teams also. We had red and gray one year for one of the colleges in Alabama. , blue and maize for Michigan one year and green and white one year for Michigan State.

    When the girls were little I let them hang ornaments and then when they were in school I rearranged them. One thing they never were allowed to do was the tinsel when we used it years ago. I was very paticuliar that it went on one strand at a time. lol

    Karan

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  8. I'm definitely the kind of person who EMBRACES the mess! I love a crazy tree with mulit-colored lights and the most treasured ornaments are the ones we made as kids :) (no kids of my own yet!!)

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  9. I too am a follower. Just e-mailed you hope that it made it. Tried the other day by replying to the e-mail you sent me but did not notice it was a no reply. Let me know if you did not get it.

    Karan

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  10. I will let my kids decorate the tree, then when they go to bed, I will "fix" it. They never seem to notice the rearranging :) but I do include the ornaments that my cuties make somewhere on the tree. This wouldn't be the first time I was called OCD, or a snob of some sort lol!
    Slynh999@gmail.com

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  11. I follow your blog via GFC.
    Slynh999@gmail.com

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  12. This is one of my favorite posts EVER to read on a blog! I am OCD about my tree -- for some reason, I love the sparkly, breakable glass ornaments the most (yep, that kinda leaves out the ones the kids made/were given 30+ years ago!) and I have 5 generations of lovely sparkly glass ornaments to prove it!

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  13. The first thing I tried with all of the kids' ornaments was to send them with them (after them!) when they grew up and had their own places...but they all decided to leave them with Mama for safe-keeping! When we moved to Florida we were limited in what we could move with us, and I chose the glass ornaments from previous generations, and left the others....naughty, naughty!

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  14. I am a devoted new follower of your blog! I admit it, I always wanted a tree in every room (except the bathroom) so I am with you!

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It's like CHRISTMAS everyday when I unwrap your kind words! I just LOVE getting secret messages!!! I really have the BEST bloggy friends ever!