For we need a little Christmas, right this very minute!

This year has been a good year for our family. The last month and a half however, have been stressful and hard. Now, I know it will only get better. I have received very good advice and insight from people that are older and wiser than me and that have also gone through this. If you don't know what I am talking about, Jeff was laid off at the beginning of October. It's been scary, depressing, and disheartening. Through it though, we have become closer as a family, become closer friends, learned some great life lessons, and I think that within six months of this, we will be thankful that it happened. I believe that this will be a change for the better, I really do. I believe that Heavenly Father is watching over me, blessing me, and this is what was supposed to happen. I am feeling like I have built an even better relationship with the Lord through this process.

Now back to the tittle of this post. I felt like I needed to preface it with a bit of background. As a tradition in our family, we put up all of the Christmas stuff and go full tilt into the holiday the day after Thanksgiving. I feel that gives us enough time to really take in everything that it has to offer. I look forward to going to church each week to sing Christmas hyms and listen to Christ centered lessons. I love to make many different treats and goodies for us to eat and pass out. We also like to have a service project as a family. The girls look forward to getting a name off of a giving tree so they can buy a needy child a present. All of our family home evenings are about Christmas as well. Oh, and let's not forget the music! Every kind of Christmas music get played around here.

With all of this to look forward to in a little over a week, the waiting was getting kind of hard. Last Monday, we were finishing our family night, when Lindsay asked when we could start listening to Christmas music. I told her we could do that pretty soon. Maybe after Thanksgiving would be a good time. She just kind of smiled her little pirate smile that she has and said she would like some now. Later on in the evening, Jeff let it be known that he would like a little bit of Christmas to start early. "I just love the feeling, and I could use some of that feeling." he said. So I instantly start to hear Angela Lansbury start singing in my head:

Haul out the holly;
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.
Fill up the stocking,
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.
For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute,
Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.
Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute.
It hasn't snowed a single flurry,
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry;
So climb down the chimney;
Put up the brightest string of lights I've ever seen.
Slice up the fruitcake;
It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough.

So, I sang that to him and he just turned and smiled at me a said, "Exactly!" That means that the DeCoursey's are doing it earlier this year folks. We have already broke out the music and made our first batch of caramel corn. I don't think we will decorate till we usualy do, but the spirit is getting strong. The girls are making their Christmas lists, drawing up plans for gingerbread houses, and watching for the giving trees to appear in the grocery store. I guess I am wondering if anyone else has felt this way this year. When do people generally start their traditions for the holidays. When does the official gauntlet drop? For our family it was the 9th of November. (I have to say I saw someones tree up already on Halloween, that's pushing it)

For we need a little music,
Need a little laughter,
Need a little singing
Ringing through the rafter,
And we need a little snappy
"Happy ever after,"
Need a little Christmas now.