My Christmas Fix: Decorating While in Transition

For the past year, I have been in transition with regards to where I currently reside. Living with a relative, while I save to purchase a condo, has left the Christmas decorating bug within me partially disabled. I say partially because I still have my office at work. Everyone who knows me knows when I had my own place my Christmas tree stayed up 365 days a year during the past seven years. People used to come over and ask when I was taking it down. When the holidays were over, I would simply take down the other decorations and move the tree out of the living room and into a corner of my bedroom, or maybe a corner in my dressing room. I loved that tree. It took me a long time to find it...the one tree that I wanted to have for EVERY Christmas.

Years prior, I went through various color schemes and themes; the cold theme (blue, while and silver), the country theme (plaids, apples, birdhouses and santas/snowmen fashioned with straw), the playful theme (candy canes, gingerbread men and toy ornaments), a sophisticated sparkly theme (silver and gold), and a memorial tree the year my grandma died (all white ornaments of angels and snowflakes). Those were just a few of my creations in addition to the ones I did for friends and family. There was a time when I had almost 6 large bins of Christmas decorations. It was insane and consumed tons of closet space!

Then one year I found a theme of deep red, plum and gold in a set of baroque style glass/acrylic ornaments containing the entire color pallete. They were so elegant and pretty! That I found them on clearance at Michaels for much less than they were originally priced seemed like fate. Reds and purples always found a way into my everyday decorating scheme as an accent of some kind. At last, I found a way to bring them together for Christmas. When the tree was done, I was in love...and then it never game down. The following year, I think I added another accent, and the year after that I updated another. For the most part, was the same tree and my love for it did not wane. The only times it ever came down was for the three times I moved...one of the last things I boxed up. 2016 was the first Christmas holiday I didn't have a holiday tree at home to call my own in over a decade. My forever tree remained boxed up in storage. It was depressing, but there was always work!

Every workplace has that one annoying employee who obnoxiously loves the holidays. I am known to be that coworker! Besides reception, my office is usually the only sign that the holidays are upon us. Now, I'm not as extravagant as having a train set going throughout the room (although I have considered this), but I can get pretty festive within my four walls. And instead of being total Grinches about my holiday spirit, my colleagues playfully rib or encourage me, regardless of religious affiliation. A few times, when I was late getting my decorations up, I had folks come by my office to inquire about the delay. It seems even if they didn't have the time or interest in being festive in the workplace, they appreciated being able to walk by my office and find a slice of holiday spirit.

So, while I may have to acquiesce to the decorating style of the relatives temporarily providing me shelter, my inner holiday decorator has a place to play until I can play in my own home again. This evening, I went and got a few things out of storage and then stopped by Dollar Tree to see what goodies they had to offer, this year. Please do not sleep on Dollar Tree because it's a dollar store. I've found some treasures in there that have lasted me years! If you have small children or pets that like to play with the tree or decorations that are laid out, dollar tree has some gorgeous ornaments that are pretty and sparkly on the outside, but won't shatter when they hit the floor because they're plastic or have styrofoam inside. They also pack away with ease! My one complaint is the glittery ornaments will shed glitter, but that happens with even the most expensive of ornaments. Otherwise, I'm often pleasantly surprised with the selections they have for the holidays and every year seems to get better and better. Today, I literally became overwhelmed and had to stop myself from buying everything. It was GREAT!

I'm looking forward to getting my holiday fix when I decorate my office, tomorrow.