we need a little christmas.

"For we need a little music, need a little laughter

Need a little singing, ringing thru the rafter

And we need a little snappy "Happy Ever After"

We need a little Christmas now...."

Today is November 18th. I have two trees up, twinkle lights on my mantle, and a wall applique that says "Merry Christmas" over my fireplace. I am designing invitations for two Christmas parties, and planning what to wear to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert in December. My basset hound's jingle bell collar is being washed, and I have plans with my mother for "gift bow tying" lessons over Thanksgiving. I have been compared to Buddy the Elf, and my sister-in-law is planning an intervention (love you Sandra! haha!)

For some of you, this may seem a bit too early and excessive... but for the rest of us....

We need a little Christmas NOW.

Let me explain.

As a recent college graduate and having just passed our one year wedding anniversary, I don't think it would be a stretch to say this has been quite a crazy year. Trying to find a full-time interior design job has been difficult (thank you, HGTV, for teaching the general public that they do not need people like me... boooo) and jobsearching in general carries quite a few ups and downs. And of course, anyone who is married knows that the first year is full of craziness... from the realization that many cliches are true (such as who has control over the tv) to learning the quirks that are a bit more husband-specific, such as my sweet husband's ability to somehow not close cabinets and drawers (it's baffling! love you, Nathan!)

But despite whatever craziness has passed, and regardless of what is to come in the future... that first round of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" makes me want to do just that! So I haul out the holly (literally- I have garland EVERYWHERE!) and have at length conversations with my husband about what theme my extra tree should be (incidentally, we decided on a Santa theme). And somewhere in the middle of all my holly-hauling and hall-decking, I find myself having the best time trying to re-create the traditions my family set forth while attempting to create new ones for Nathan and I! Actually, I think I'm trying to get one too many traditions going- baking cookies together, collecting a new Snow Village building every year, exchanging ornaments every year, adding snowglobes to our collection on the coffee table, going to look at Christmas lights together... etc, etc, etc.

But if that's excessive, it's because some of the best times from my childhood involve much of the same... For example, cookie decorating. For years, my sisters and I would gather together and make quite a night (and quite a MESS, ha!) out of the decorating cookies. We would each have our own lump of cookie dough that we would roll out and use cookie cutters ranging from the generic gingerbread man who could never make it to the cookie pan with all appendages attached to the green Kermit the Frog cookie cutter, that I could never quite figure out how he got mixed in (seriously). As we got older, the tradition didn't stop, the cookies just became more elaborate, as did the techniques to decorate them (i.e. using a sandwich bag full of icing with the corner cut off to create a "finer" tip!) Basically, we make some GOOD cookies.

And of course, who can really go thru a Christmas season WITHOUT going to check out the Christmas lights? Every year, for as long as I can remember, the whole family would pile in the car to check out the local lightshows, where at least once my dad would be forced to mute the radio since all three of his daughters (and usually his wife) seem to believe we can sing just like Mariah Carey in "All I Want for Christmas is You." But perhaps my favorite part of the evening always came when we would eventually pass a dark, unlit house, where my dad would point out that the owner was probably Jewish, and we would laugh as though we didn't make that joke every year...

Which I guess, is really the moral of my blog today. Christmas is all about the memories and the traditions that make life great. It's about remembering times with my amazing family and friends, and starting new tradition to look forward to next year. So yes, I may be an overdecorated, overexcited, hall-decking Buddy the Elf Griswald, but I think that the world would be a better place if we all had a little Christmas now. The earlier, the better :)

well deck my halls.

No really. It's November, which as any self respecting Christmasaholic knows means it's OFFICIALLY time to start decking those halls! (On another note, I feel as though there should be some way to hint at "Hall" being my last name whenever I say "Deck the Halls." However, I haven't found anything clever; rather it sounds as though we would appreciate a good punch in the face. So, for the time being, don't try to come up with anything "punny" about Decking the Halls. We wouldn't appreciate it.)

Now as most Christmasaholics do, I have special "hiding" places for all my Christmas decor where they hibernate for most of the year. I regain an entire closet in our guest bedroom when my decorations go up, as well as all of the shelf space in our "nook". But again, as most Christmasholics will tell you... the best day of the year is when the holy grail of Christmasification goes up... the CHRISTMAS TREE!

But again, there is more to the Christmas tree than meets the eye... and that is where our blog begins today.

Now, for me there is no question. The main tree SHOULD and WILL ALWAYS be a live tree. Preferably a big fatty tree that does not really belong in the 1100 sq ft apartment in which you currently reside... but I digress. I guess the tree for me may or may not be the tree for you, so I'm offering a few acceptable examples, brought to you by the fabulous people of Treetopia!

In honor of Election Day, I bring you this special treat...

And for those who like a splash of color...

And finally, for those who prefer a dash of whimsy...

If anyone puts one of these trees up, I'll need a picture IMMEDIATELY :)

Now I hope that the "treepicker" in your home is a little bit more reasonable than myself. If you're tree picking with me, I'll have you pick up and twirl EVERY tree in the lot until we find the fattest, most ridiculous and most "guaranteed not to fit in the corner space you left for it" type tree there and then proceed to rearrange the living room to make it work. Keep in mind- 1100 sq/ft doesn't leave alot of space for this sort of behavior, but I have a sweet husband who deals with it on a daily basis. (Unfortunately, I was an interior design major in college. We are constantly rearranging and redoing. Can't help it.)

Assuming your tree has been picked and your placement has been blessed by those in charge of Christmas celebrations (aka the wife or whoever will actually be responsible for decorating said tree and vacuuming the needles from the carpet and keeping the dog from drinking the tree water, etc etc etc), you are ready for your next big decision... what sort of lights should bedazzle your tree?!

Now if you are one of my family members, this is a huge decision. Despite my previously mentioned degree in design, I have a tendency to love ridiculously tacky things... and this tends to cloud my general sense of judgment when it comes to Christmas. I'll admit it here...

I LOVE COLORED LIGHTS. I can't help it. Those big fatty ones that look straight out of Charlie Brown's Christmas special and always seem to burn too hot, but give such a warm "Christmasy" feel that I can't resist them. However, my husband prefers the white lights and so did my mom growing up, so I feel the need to compromise. Our tree gets white lights and white sparkly lights and then most of my decor gets big fatty colored lights. I'm border line Griswald-y. Just can't help it... although so far I have resisted an inflatable decoration. We'll just have to see Christmas 2010... we will see :)

I think that's enough for one night, but follow me through the next couple weeks as I deck my halls and craft my way into the holidays. My first project is looking as though it just might be a decorative fireplace screen... those of you who have read the "Better Homes and Gardens" Christmas Ideas magazine might have seen what I'm about to attempt. I'll keep you in suspense for now, but keep an eye out :) Also look out for the not one, but two Christmas parties the Hall household is attempting to host. Lots to blog about in the future... but for now, Happy Election Day!

need some office christmas cheer?

Nothing witty to say today... however, for all of you lucky people with full time legit adult jobs, here's a nice way to spread some office cheer...

Check out this article from Holidash for more ideas on making your office a little more spirited!

glitter.

I don't know if every christmasaholic has this problem, or if it's just me... but I LOVE GLITTER. It's not a recent obsession, or something that I remember how much I love every Christmas (like Christmas lights choreographed to music- I always forget how much I love that!) No, I realized my glitter obsession goes back quite a while, and today I give you my sparkly timeline.

MIDDLE SCHOOL: Most girls go through a terrible makeup phase. For those who went thru the 80's wearing makeup, I'm going to assume it was the neon blue and green eye makeup with Barbie pink lipstick. For those girls experimenting these days, it's typically an orange spray tan combined with too much bronzer. For me, it was my excessively sparkly eyelids. And trust me, I'm not exaggerating. They were a work of art. Instead of eyeliner, it was a thin line of body glitter (seriously!!) with loose glitter dabbed on top. I'm not making this up. Two layers of glitter on my eyelid- I looked like a disco ball, and it's no wonder I didn't wear contacts until high school. 

COLLEGE: As a Tridelta in college, my biggest contribution came at pivotal Greek moments such as sorority recruitment (rush), Greek Sing and Homecoming. Being a terrible dancer, I chose to be in the background of such events as the prop girl. My fellow tridelta Lauren and I would spend hours in the basement of the sorority house perfecting the art of making oversized shapes (ranging from turkeys to baseball bats to giant forks to polo horses) out of foam insulation, and then painting and drowning them in glitter. Through this experience I learned how to shade and shadow with glitter, learned the pros and cons of coarse vs. fine glitter, discovered which stores in Lexington KY carried the BEST selection of glitter, and learned that if you can't find the color glitter you need you can always buy the white glitter and paint whatever color you really wanted underneath it to create the glittery creation of your dreams. Seriously. Try it. (And for the record, you can do magical things with Martha Stewart glitter. It's beautiful.)

POST-COLLEGE: After graduation, I apparently hadn't had my fill of glitter and proceeded to work as a manager for Pier 1 Imports and as a designer for Weddings by Michele. Now I'll get to Pier 1 in a minute, but part of my duties as a designer for WbM is to create and fabricate local area high school's prom invitations. Which means that every spring, my living room is full of prom with themes like "Midnight in Paris" and "Venetian Carnival." If you know me at all, you must know it means that I spend hours upon hours glittering and reglittering invitations that will inevitably be lost or shoved in a textbook and forgotten. I pretend that it really means they are scrapbooked and framed as a token of high school memories... but let's be honest.

Now back to Pier 1. Anyone who works retail knows that holidays come early. And anyone who works at Pier 1 knows that holidays sparkle. Which leads me to the first week of October... which was when our Christmas shipment came in :) I adore Christmas at the Pier, and I'm not being sarcastic. I love picking up a box and glitter just dumping out because the 3' tall snowflake is literally shedding glitter. I find it amazing that I will spend 20 minutes dustmopping the front of the store to no avail because the glitter won't sweep up, it just finds refuge in the grout lines. And I love that inevitably at the end of the day, I have glitter all in my clothes and stuck in my hair so that regardless of how many times I shower, I still sparkle. It's a Twilight fan's dream... everyone who works at Pier 1 sparkles!

And finally, CHRISTMAS: Christmas glitter is the best glitter of all. Personally, I think that apple green glitter is the best- and it looks FABULOUS with a Christmas tree (and yes, it's all over my tree!) But I also love the faux snow glitter, it looks so old timey and wintry. And who can forget how fabulous sparkles look with Christmas lights? They were made to be together. And who am I to tear such a pair apart?!

And yep, I'm not kidding. This is an entire blog dedicated to my love of glitter. Next up- Christmas lights. White or colored or combo?!

And my first favorite new holiday find is...

Last year was our first Christmas as a married couple, which as EVERY newlywed finds out means BUDGETING. However, when we got married, I acquired 4 adorable nieces and 1 fabulous nephew which also meant for the first time in years I got to go toy shopping! Now I love Black Friday shopping as much as any girl (no seriously- it's like a sport, I love it!) but I knew that even with the crazy deals at the crack of dawn, I would not be able to afford the "it" toy for  each of these 5 children. Luckily, I went to Kohl's and discovered their "Kohl's Cares for Kids" plush collection.

Priced at just $5 per stuffed animal and $5 per book, you can buy these ADORABLE gifts for all the children on your list. Last year, I found "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and the accompanying stuffed mouse, and the ever so fun "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" and the accompanying stuffed moose. My nieces loved them and I've been told the moose has made a great bed time companion...

Which leads me to this years "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" collection! Currently at Kohl's near each check out line, there is a collection of Dr. Seuss books and their matching stuffed animals. For just $15, I purchased the entire Grinch-y set including book, Grinch and Max (the dog). And the money goes to charity, so not only do you have the most adorable grouping of Seussical decor you're helping kids. Win-win in my book! Check it out

"Hi, my name is Mallory...

and I'm a Christmas-aholic."

Today, I posted a facebook status saying exactly that. What followed was an insane amount of comments, likes, tweets and texts... including one that jokingly asked if there were meetings for people like us. Well... no. There aren't... to my knowledge anyway. However, I figured we could at least have a blog to debate and create Christmas camaraderie year-round.

But how do you know if you belong to christmasaholics [anonymous]? Well, it does take a special group of people that are willing to forfeit good sense and financial security to deck their halls. Do you find yourself watching "Love Actually," "The Holiday," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (the old school claymation version- let's be honest, it's the only legit one)" and "Elf" at inappropriate times of the year? Is Thanksgiving merely a day to mark when your Christmas tree can actually go up without ridicule from friends and family? Have you ever seriously contemplated having a Christmas party on Halloween because it could be argued that you were dressing up as something Christmas-y FOR Halloween? Do you possess seemingly useless bits of knowledge that help you create a false sense of Christmas throughout non-holiday seasons (such as the "Fresh Balsam" candle from Bath & Body Works that smells EXACTLY like a Christmas tree?) Does your love of glitter and sparkly things overcome your general sense of acceptable decor from the beginning of fall until significantly past New Years Eve? (No? That one might just be me...)

Well then, you may have found a home here at christmasaholics [anonymous]. Check back here for Christmas crafts, Christmas discussion, Christmas food and overall good cheer. Happy to have you, and happy holidays to you.

And yes, I know it's October.