Decorating for holidays? Bah, humbug!

Thanksgiving break was a nice respite for the whole family.

We had a few days of chilling out at home, free of homework and practices, and catching up on housework.

I finally took down the Halloween decorations.

Well, except for the 12 pumpkins that are still lined up on the staircase.

They’re still sitting there smiling at me every time I open the front door.

Much to my kids’ dismay, I just cannot get wholeheartedly into this decorating for holidays thing.

I have given it the old college try, and there are bins and bins of decorations for every holiday sitting in my basement. Some of them are even in their original wrappings, with the price tags attached. I like the idea of decorating. I just lose something in the execution.

It’s not that I’m a Grinch. When I finally do get the garland on the bannisters and the mantel and the tree is installed in the living room, there is nothing I love more than sitting down with a hot cup of cocoa and inhaling the fresh scent of evergreen. There is something truly magical and wonderful about a decorated Christmas tree. But, I know that there will come a cold, miserable January day when I just can’t stand looking at the remnants of the holiday season anymore, but I don’t have the energy or ambition to take it all down and pack it away.

Recently, a Facebook friend pondered if his was the only family that used to decorate their tree on Christmas Eve. Many of us were quick to chime in that he was not alone. For many years, especially when college took my brother and I away for most of December, I remember coming home from Christmas Eve services and starting to decorate the tree. Some other commenters added that their Christmas trees were decorated by Santa Claus while they slept. I believe Santa may have started to lose some of his ambition as he’s gotten older, because there have been a few years when he hasn’t even fully wrapped every present under our tree. I can’t see him having the time to decorate, too.

I couldn’t dream of putting up my tree this early in the season. I think we have invested in every tree watering device out there, and we still can’t get more than a few weeks out of our tree before it starts shedding needles like crazy. I also hold out hope that the closer to winter we get, the more likely it is that our trip to the tree farm to pick our tree will be more snowy and less muddy.

I’m a “less is more” kind of person when it comes to decorating. White lights and red bows are more than enough for me. If I have to go beyond that, I like to stick to a theme. When I got my first apartment and my own first Christmas tree, I carefully selected an adorable collection of snowmen ornaments that coordinated with the tree topper and the tree skirt. It was Pinterest-worthy for sure. It also had absolutely no personality.

Now, the kids rule the tree. After I have the final say on the monster tree that we bring home, and the Wonderful Husband applies the white lights and red ribbon garland, they can do whatever they want with it. Our tree has become an eclectic hodgepodge of years of arts and crafts and randomly acquired ornaments. Every year, Santa brings the kids an ornament that is representative of something big that happened during their year. E got a small dancer when she started taking lessons. A trumpet showed up the year that A learned how to play. We will never forget the year that G finally learned to ride a two-wheel bike thanks to the little mini G that is now forever pedaling away on our tree.

For some reason, the kids find our “first year married” ornament hilarious. They love to find the ornaments that celebrate the year they were born. G seems to have acquired more of these than the other two put together, probably because of his close-to-Christmas birthday. Of course, we have a pickle ornament to hide, as well. We were not originally aware of the hidden pickle tradition. Instead, we got pickle ornaments when A was born, because his nickname was Pickle. Since then, everyone takes turns hiding the pickle on the tree all through season. My little snowmen are still there, lost among the hand print reindeer faces and the beaded candy canes.

I love the way our Christmas tree has evolved on its own, how just about every ornament has a story or is meaningful in some way. It’s messy and chaotic and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Our other decorations seem boring and bland in comparison. Maybe that’s why I’m less than enthusiastic about rushing to get them all put up? In the meantime, I guess I can hope that my leftover Halloween pumpkins sitting on the steps evolve into something a little more festive. I’m sure my creative geniuses would happily turn them into garishly decorated little elves or roly-poly, little, orange Santas.

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.