When are you planning to decorate for Christmas this year?

[Murfreesboro]

My daughter would love you. Gingersnaps are her favorite cookies.

I am not much of a cookie baker. I go in for holiday breads, especially cranberry orange. I'll be making several loaves of that next week, both for us and to give away.

[Andybev01]

With a lemon icing?

I love quick breads and glazes.

[Murfreesboro]

Aww, Christmas kitty!

No, I don't ice mine. We usually eat it with cream cheese and a cup of "wassail" (spiced cranberry orange punch). It's the first thing we eat on Christmas mornng.

[Andybev01]

I will have to try cream cheese.

The cat is pushing 14 years old, and still behaves like a kitten.

[Murfreesboro]

Omg, I'd never have guessed his/her age from that photo. What a beauty.

[Andybev01]

His pronouns are jerk/punk and brat.

[Murfreesboro]

Lol

[MauEvig]

His pronouns are jerk/punk and brat.

That's hilarious.

I'm missing our black cat during the holiday season. But we're trying to maintain a cheerful spirit.

I think I'm about done decorating. I suppose I could put more stuff out, but sometimes less is more, especially when you're overworked and stressed.

[Murfreesboro]

Yes, enjoy the Christmas season. Don't make yourself stressed with perfectionism about it.

Honestly, I think that may be a big reason why I love Halloween so much. For me it is the gateway to the holiday season, but it is also a totally no-pressure time. It's the only time of the year when you can make ornaments out of trash and people will be amused and delighted. Nothing but a good time.

[Andybev01]

Ditto.

[Andybev01]

It recently occurred to me that my decorating style is 'second-hand shop'.

Every surface is filled with an array of unrelated yet cohesive objects that are reminiscent of browsing a thrift store.

[MauEvig]

Oh my decorations tend to be a bit random too, although "cats" are typically my main thing for both Christmas and Halloween. And maybe a few gamer related things. I have gamer themed ornaments for the tree and cats.

You can make Christmas ornaments out of recycled stuff too. There's tons of crafts for Christmas. I just never got around to doing any of them.
But yes with Christmas there's more of a hustle. Halloween you just, get the decorations out, get some candy, hope to see some kids in costumes show up. Maybe watch a horror movie.

But there is something magical about Christmas and I agree with Murf that it's really the kick off to the holiday season in general.

[Murfreesboro]

I'm not sure my decorations have much coherence, beyond Christmas itself. I've been collecting my tree ornaments ever since I left home, and I have far too many to display at once. Many of them I have bought on vacation. I discovered decades ago that tree ornaments are very easy to transport when you travel.

One Christmas craft I did when my kids were growing up was to make tree ornaments of their Santa photos. I'd glue a wallet sized one onto a paper doily and use glitter glue to write the year. Then, after it dried, I'd laminate the doily, punch a hole in the top border, and hang it with a ribbon. I do treasure those.

[Andybev01]

I like the idea of your Santa photo ornaments.

Friends of mine have a separate, small tree just for their vacation ornaments.

[Murfreesboro]

If I did more than one tree, I could do that, too. Perhaps I should consider it.