When!

They say that's the trick . . . knowing when to say "when." Usually you hear it in reference to the consumption of alcohol, but in this case I'm referring to decorating our house for the holidays. I said I wasn't going to go overboard, then I started pulling everything out of storage and couldn't figure-out where to draw the line.

So, up went the silver tinsel tree in the dining room. Complete with a gift from Lisa and Ricki last year--homage to my dream of an Airstream trailer to renovate.

Up went the new hydrangea tree in the parlor. (A special thank you to my friend, Linda, for the dried hydrangea blooms--she grabbed more than 40 blooms out of her garden and dried them for me!)

Up went the 9' tree in the family room (back in it's location next to the fireplace).

(Sorry no picture yet--it's not finished getting dressed!)

The banister decorations . . .

and the mantel decorations.

So, where did I "cut back?" Well, there's still no garland on the big tree. There's no ribbon on the banister. There are no pine boughs or pine cones hanging from the chandeliers. There are no decorations on the top of our kitchen cabinets. The Santa and Nutcracker collections remain wrapped and packed.

The big question . . . will anyone else notice or care? At first, the kids were a little disappointed about the Nutcrackers, but after hours of decorating--they gladly carried the boxes of '08 rejects back to the storage space.

Here's hoping you've been able to say "when" and you're already enjoying the blessings of this wonderful Christmas season.

Thanks for your indulgence~Paige