I can’t believe there are only eight more Saturdays until fall… less than 100 days until Halloween, 147 days until Christmas… and the stores are starting to put holiday decorations on the shelves. I don’t countdown to Christmas, I countdown to the “season”… so for me, the season is nearly here – I can feel fall in the air!

Michael’s started bringing in the Lemax villages for Halloween and some Christmas crafts already.  And Hobby Lobby displays started going up in June and then really went up July 7-8.  There were some awesome Christmas Classic’s on the Hallmark Channel July 14-15.  Many stores were having Christmas in July celebrations… one mall near me even had Santa on a beach chair!  Here in New Jersey there was a Christmas Boat parade sponsored by Coors Light, prizes were awarded for the two best decorated boats. http://njbeachbuzz.com/christmas-in-july-boat-parade-in-the-wildwood-nj/.  I even found a Christmas in July song,  “Sufjan Stevens – Christmas in July ” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L7XcjR4JW4   QVC had a Christmas in July sale and they had tons of adorable decorations at great prices during the weekend of July 21-22.

I was so excited when I saw the Facebook post by ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas letting me know that ELF was playing on June 7^th on ABC Family.  I’ve been watching Christmas movies all month!

I also started some “decorating”… yes -I went in Michael’s last weekend and bought some fall flowers 🙂 But someone told me today that Hobby Lobby has Halloween AND CHRISTMAS stuff out already!!! I don’t have a Hobby Lobby near me but I wanted to share the news.

I love the summer for one main reason; how all the holiday stuff magically appears in some stores when they start the back to school displays.  I remember last year, my daughter and I went into Kohl’s and we were shocked that the Christmas trees were on display before Halloween – honestly, we started doing the Snoopy happy dance IN the store 🙂  Some of the local stores that I used to count on for certain items and last minute wrapping goods for Christmas have closed down in my area, Cost Cutters, K-Mart… so sad.

Well… I do have some good news… I received my invite from Hallmark for the Keepsake Ornament Premiere for July 14 -15 – that’s LESS nearly 2 weeks away!!!   Do I need to say anything else?
OMG I AM SO HAPPY!!!

As I am reading my Facebook feed I am instantly reminded by Countdown to Christmas that we are 208 days away from Christmas and so I am going to keep this short and sweet.. I am so excited and overwhelmed at the same time!

It has been very hot and humid here on the East Coast so it the worst month for focusing on Christmas… I have had to really move into the “spirit”.  I’ve been organizing my decorations (getting more of those Martha Stewart organizing labels), watching Christmas movies, chatting with my friends on Facebook that love Christmas as much as I do, and listening to Christmas music.  I am excited though, I just got another coupon mailer from the Hallmark Store for Father’s Day and I KNOW that the next one will be for the Hallmark Ornament Premiere in July.   I also just finished going through the Hallmark Ornament Dreambook for 2012;  I picked out  some adorable ornaments; some will be released in July but most won’t be available until the unveiling in October; here is the link for the book so you can pick yours!

365 days is way too long between Christmases’ … we just have to celebrate all year long.   Today is the first day of spring, which means we just have to hop over summer… and fall will be here before we know it…in just 279 days and counting.

I am finally tucking away the last of the decorations; the winter tree and the village display that has been in my wall unit since the day after Halloween.   I love the Department 56 and Lemax Village pieces, and I put up a full display for Halloween and Christmas… thank goodness my youngest daughter is now an adult and has taken over the “display management” – it’s a lot of work!   I knew she would be a natural since she loved her dollhouse when she was younger, and was always so creative by making her own pieces.  I spent several years planning how I would acquire enough houses, buildings, accessories and figures to fill up eight shelves of the wall unit; however, now I search for new scenery and retire the old.  We put up the Halloween display just after Labor Day and then we replace it on November 1^st with Christmas.  The grand-kids love it…. My three youngest granddaughters just stare in awe… for them it’s a huge multi-level dollhouse.

Since the Hallmark Ornament Premiere in July (and really before that) I could “feel” Christmas approaching, and by the time we went to the Hallmark Open House in October… I [knew] it was Christmastime.   As I sit here looking at yet another Hallmark invite (this time it’s to promote Santa’s visit for picture-taking) I realize that this is the last promotional for the store and Christmas is here!   I love the Hallmark Store.

I love the fall, I love the holiday season from Halloween through New Year’s; when Halloween is over,  I stay up late to pack all the décor and have Christmas going up on November 1^st.  Since the kids went back to school (and I was part of that this year since my youngest granddaughter lives with me and was just starting first grade), I was “investigating” the local stores to see who would put out Christmas décor early.  The first store, of course was Hallmark but one night I walked in Home Depot to see if they had anything large for Halloween, and to my surprise ALL of their Christmas decorations were lit up and stocked up in their “Christmas Corner”.  As I approached the corner I noticed the barricade tape. What?  They were blocking me out?  We asked the manager if we could walk down the aisles and see the new products and he said “no”… we had to wait a few days because it takes a ‘crew’ to unveil the décor and put up the trees and formally present the displays – WOW!  I even offered to stay and help 🙂

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!