It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like....well you know

I don't know why it's taking longer each year for me to decorate but it does.  The first day the house looked like it exploded.  I could have opened a gift shop with the amount of knick knacks that were in the livingroom. You see, I'm one of 'those people' who has to lovingly wrap and store the every day decorations while the holiday ones are out.  That means the time consuming task of transferred the every day stuff from the Halloween box to the Thanksgiving/Fall box to the Christmas boxes.  The other reason it's so time consuming is that this house is pretty small, and therefore cannot accommodate every single decoration and tree that I own.  So I have to go through four or five boxes/totes full of tree ornaments and knick knacks to decide what I want to put out.  

Started with the outside lights and added a second strand.

This is the first year I decided to put stuff in the kitchen window.  I realize it's pointless because you can only see if you are outside and it's daylight.  This is not a street-facing window, and with the curtains always shut, we can't even see it inside the house.  I put my 3 homemade snowglobes in it, plus some fake greens, white lights and a bunch of vintage glass balls that I got for a steal at a junk shop a couple years ago.

One little tree, on top of the stereo speaker

Two more little trees and a bejeweled bottle.

Putting these out each year gets more and more bittersweet as time slips by.  Each piece has a special memory or two associated with it, from my childhood to my last few years in Washington. We are making new memories too, of course, but this is only our 4th Christmas together.  So when I put stuff out I have a tendency to linger over it.  

Like the little free silver Santa bell that came unexpectedly with a catalog order in California.  I remember my delight when I saw it in the bottom of the box.  The Peace on Earth pom pom lion & lamb that my dad picked out on his own for my stocking when I was a kid cause he thought I'd think it was cute.  And the time I had a Christmas bonus burning a hole in my pocket in 2007 and I splurged on a large set of Rudolph figures.

And all the cross stitch projects I've done.  The gold tinsel tree that was in my dollhouse when I was little.

How I worked on this Santa day and night for months to get it done in time to show in the 2002 Puyallup Fair, destroying my eyesight in the process.

Fans of South Park will recognize Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo on the left.

I was digging around in the bottom of one of the boxes and pulled out that ceramic Seahawks ball! I forgot I had it and I also thought I left it behind.  

That's our first ornament hanging on the brass hanger, from 2011.  Behind it is a musical trio of mice that winds up and spins slowly to 'Santa Claus is Comin to Town'.  My Aunt Glady & Uncle Yimmy gave that to me when I was so little that it seems that I've always had it.  The 2 stained glass candle holders were bought at a cool shop in Orinda, CA called McWhorter's. I bought them in 1997, when I was working for Gillin Jacobson.  And that ceramic crescent Santa was bought on rainy Friday night, day after Thanksgiving, in San Rafael, CA in either 96 or 97 when we went downtown for the annual tree lighting and Christmas market. Someone on the street was selling it for like $4.00.  It's one of my fave decorations.

The Putz houses I got off ebay 2 years ago, to replace the ones my parents had and either lost, gave away or were stolen (I made the pink trees).

In the archway and w/o flash to show the lights in the garland.

Another angle.

Next to my chair.

Some of my friends decorated before Thanksgiving but that's a little too early for me.  I will probably leave these up till New Years, or whenever we are able to have Christmas with the kids.  Have you all decorated?  How long do you leave them up?