No turkeys, but elves and reindeer early

As a rule, I'm very particular about my holiday decorations. They go up on the first of the month of that holiday. October 1 is when Halloween goes up. Thanksgiving on November 1. Valentine's Day? February 1.

This year, though, because of the ridiculousness of the pandemic and its horribleness as well, I am considering a very special change to the decoration schedule. And with the permission of both mine and my mother's neuroses, I believe that I will not decorate for Thanksgiving, and instead go straight to Christmas in a week or two. This is, to put it lightly, unprecedented.

And I'm actually pretty excited about it. I love all my Christmas decor, and I always love those precious few days between my putting out the decor and the day that Brian insists on buying the tree. You see, to me, the tree is a huge inconvenience and dirt magnet, and more responsibility than I like in my inside forest foliage. Like, why do they have to drop needles and require water every day?

So with this new schedule, I'll get a couple weeks to enjoy my Christmas goodness before the house is soiled by the large tree. Honestly, I'd have a three-foot-tall tree every single year if I could get away with it. I still prefer a living tree to a fake one for the smell. So if I was in charge, I'd buy a teeny one for just the smell and put it on a stool or table or something. Decorated, of course, but tiny. As neither Brian nor Sydney would allow such a thing, I'll instead revel in my couple/few weeks with the pretty decor, before the tree.

So yes, I'm making a significant change to my process this year. My fear is that I'll have to fight this precedent every year now because early Christmas will spoil my husband and my kid. But I'm stubborn, and I really like my Thanksgiving stuff, and I'm the only one that does the decorating, so it's a fight that I will win when I want, and lose when I want. I actually am in charge.