An Old-Fashioned Family Christmas
There are people who decorate for Christmas and then there are those of us who channel our inner Clark Griswold every season.
This year I may have outdone myself – literally and figuratively. In addition to my usual holiday decor spread across every room, surface and shelf in the house, I made velvet ribbon chains and glitter star garlands and strung them across my entire kitchen ceiling, all converging at the center point – the disco ball, obviously. I hand-drew scenes on the kitchen and living room windows with acrylic markers. I crafted giant paper bag snowflakes in every size to display on my big blank living room wall with fairy lights (which I must say were absolutely dreamy at night). I made 3D paper ornaments out of iridescent cardstock and origami paper to make sure my tropical plants didn't feel left out of the celebrations.
Additionally, I managed to convince my hubby that we needed not just one, but two real Douglas firs this year. The main tree in the living room held all our traditional ornaments, adored with colored lights and silver garlands. Downstairs was a shrine to my alma mater – a Jayhawk tree complete with blue lights, red garlands, all KU ornaments and a stuffed Jayhawk on top. Rock chalk Christmas 'Hawk!
The video below takes you through the whole thing. It was epic.
The window drawings are better appreciated in the dark – evergreen branches, holly berries, ornaments and a wreath, all glowing against the night.
Then there was our Christmas Eve tradition. For the last couple of years I have gone all out (shocking, I know) and planned a themed movie night around one of our favorite seasonal films. This year we went full Griswold, of course.
To set the scene, I printed and cut out memes featuring all the best lines from the movie, in chronological order, and strung them on colored Christmas lights around our viewing area. I made a "little full, lotta sap" banner for the tree on my precision cutting machine and funnily enough a stuffed squirrel found his way into the Christmas tree as well. A faux burnt cat decoration took up residence on the floor to round things out. Before the movie, we sat down for a proper turkey dinner – just like the Griswolds, but ours was not hollow. We drank eggnog out of our moose cups, ate Snots' “puppy chow” and snacked on Uncle Louis's stogies (big chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks).
It was a memorable affair. I'm not sure how I'll outdo myself next year. But if history is any indication – I will find a way.