I am so excited!   Less than 150 days until Christmas Eve.  I start to get overwhelmed with ideas as soon as I see July approaching because for me this is the half-way mark.  And if you don’t pick your decorations, and make major gift selections now, you will be out of the loop for the “most wonderful time of the year”.

I have a storage box labeled “Christmas in July”, stored with goodies (notes, catalogs, Christmas mugs, t-Shirts, etc.) to have a brainstorming meeting with the family; that’s when we talk about how we will magically decorate each part of the house, incorporating our treasures with new items… so that each year has that “traditional look” with something timely for the season.   We plan the gift baskets and that includes the cookies that my daughter will decorate; so we look at what we loved from previous years and all her new designs … she makes most of her own cutters and designs them all by hand; she’s such an elf!  My other daughter (the fashionista) tells us what we need to be wearing in September, October, and November… as we add more glitz and glam getting closer to December; good gosh, if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have my red coat with the shiny gold buttons and my sequin lined cardigans; she is such an elf too… she wears a huge button that says “Santa’s Helper” when she’s shopping with me!

Speaking of shopping, one of my favorite stores in the world is the Hallmark Store in my neighborhood (although I do spend a great deal amount of time at Michael’s during the season ’cause they always bring out the Christmas stuff early for those crafters; and I really love that “Disney’s Day of Christmas” store in Downtown Disney Marketplace that sells Christmas stuff year round).  I love it when I get an email to remind me (ha!) about the Hallmark Ornament Premiere weekend… it was all day last Saturday and Sunday… guess who got all the magic ornaments from the Dream Book AND their new “magic cord” ?!   This year I am planning on giving “them” a gift when they do their debut weekend… I am giving them coupons for my daughter’s cookies and a chance to win a gift basket.  I still have to go through the Dream Book and make my wish list… each year I have to be more selective because I have hundreds of their ornaments.  Hallmark allows you to buy early, then they cover them up until the unveiling… the debut weekend; which just so happens to be Columbus Day weekend in October…. My birthday weekend… Happy Birthday to me!!!

I will be reviewing new music, and OMG Michael Buble is doing a new Christmas CD with covers AND original tunes.  And the boots are already showing up in the stores and on-line… will I wear a red coat or green… or both??

Come and join me in the jolly journey as we celebrate the most wonderful time of the year…. Year round!

Love to all!