It's the most wonderful time of the year

Don't tell me it's too early for Christmas. I won't listen. While I will restrain my urge to decorate my home until after Thanksgiving (as in, I'm putting up the tree Thanksgiving night), I started listening to Christmas music November 1st. And since my boss granted me permission, I will be decorating the office tomorrow.

On some level, I admire those who eschew early Christmas-decorating. Those devoted people who don't put up their tree until Christmas Eve. Or put it up, but only put on one ornament at a time until Christmas Eve, when they finish decorating it. These people, my friends, are clearly better Catholics, Christians, and all-around better people than I. I simply cannot limit the wonderfulness that is Christmas to the 13 days between Christmas Eve and the Epiphany. There is too much joy, cheer, and goodwill towards men to fit in to two weeks.

That said, I'm extrordinarily excited for Advent this year. Growing up, we did the Advent wreath one year. Unfortunately my dad was, shall we say, a less than willing participant, and we never did it again. I suspect that my dad's resistence to the wreath is a major contributing factor in my overwhelming desire for my own little family to have one. In fact, I distinctly remember it being one of the things I brought up early during mine and Ryan's relationship: when I got married, I wanted to go to church as a family every Sunday and I wanted to do an Advent wreath every year. In anticipation of the Advent season, I've purchased this wreath (sorry to link--it won't let me copy the picture, and I don't have a picture of my own, yet) and printed out these prayers. They're pretty brief, so I anticipate that Darren (and Ryan) should be able to sit still through them.

And finally, what's Christmas without a new dress?


Okay, so the woman wearing the black dress looks a little....off. And would you really wear white gloves with a black dress? But idiosyncrasies aside, I think this is a cute dress. And since it's labeled "Sew-Easy" there's a strong possibility I may actually finish it in time for Christmas. I'll be making the long-sleeved version, and will likely be lengthening the skirt to mid-calf or so. I also have hopes (dreams....delusions....) of sewing up a couple long wool skirts to wear this winter. I'll try to keep the blog in mind as I sew, so as to have some exciting in-progress pictures. (Or at the very least, some entertaining, "Oh, shit, I screwed up again!" pictures.)