Christmas in November

I am not the person who decorates for each season or holiday of the year. While you may see a flag at my house near Independence day and a jack-o-lantern on Halloween, you won't see holiday specific decor celebrating my love for Valentine's Day, Arbor Day, Easter, or Thanksgiving. I will confess that the reason for this is mostly spatial. If I decorated for each special day I would need an additional 3-car garage to store the stuff in the off season. But Christmas is different. I love Christmas! I love the decorations, I love the music, I love the parties, I love the presents, I love the nativities, and I love the Spirit of Christmas! And so I decorate! I have about 15 large bins of Christmas decor in my garage as I write this. I suppose it will remain there this year, as I am 700 miles away. But I'm not feeling too bad about not having anything to decorate with this year. I'm working on temple square in Salt Lake City which has more twinkle per square foot than Las Vegas. It has beautiful nativities, the story of the first Christmas, and beautiful music, live and recorded throughout the day and night. Daniel and Kathryn came for a visit this week and we went to see the newly turned on lights on temple square. Wow!

38 years ago Dec 17th, my sweetie Sheldon chose this setting to pop the question and give me an engagement ring. It was spectacular then and is even more lovely now. I've been watching men in cherry pickers placing those millions of lights for the past 2 months, but seeing them all on at once, is a real thrill for this Christmas lover.

I'll never be one of those people who complain that Christmas comes earlier and earlier each year. It can't come too soon for me. Our Savior Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem! If that isn't cause for celebration, nothing is. Put up the lights, deck the hall, sing the songs, for Christmas is here again.