ITS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!!! IM NOT KIDDING!

so now that thanksgiving is over ( i planned and decorated for it for weeks) and weve been to olivers birthday party i can start thinking about christmas! i have bought a few presents but i would like to be much farther along! usually we put up our tree up and start decorating the day after thanksgiving but this year megan and travis were here until the next monday so i didnt get started then. tuesday and wednesday i had stuff to do and then on thursday we left to go to dallas for olivers party on saturday. i would not have missed it for the world! it was great fun! it was a noahs ark party! mandy and bossy, emilys boyfriend, made an ark out of boxes. they did a great job! they put all kinds of stuffed animals in it! there was a rainbow on the ceiling made out of crepe paper streamers and a paper cloud with blue streamers hanging down and a bolt of lightning hanging over the ark! we made rainbow cupcakes and i did the noahs ark story with motions for the kids. we also sang a couple of songs appropriate for the occasion. there were thumbprint animals and animal doorhangers to make. emily put animal tattoos on the kids. all the kids were supposed to dress up as an animal. the adults got in on the action too! we had a blast!! ive done a little bit of decorating at home. the living room is done and quite a bit in the dining room. there are things here and there through out the house but only a start. im with lori the worst part is getting it out of the attic and i dont like to bring it all down. i just like to go through the stuff and pick out what i want to use and bring it down. i have so much stuff i dont even use it all every year. so that means a million trips to the attic. i do love decorating and i do it constantly until christmas arrives. i add something almost everyday. i refuse to do the tree by myself though and it gets harder every year to get help! steve used to do the lights and now we have a pre lit tree so hes out of the pic! emily is the only one living at home now and she has better things to do! it doesnt seem right to force her! i long for those years when the girls couldnt wait to decorate the tree! i just handed out the ornaments and they did the rest! its harder to get into the decorating mood though then it used to be though but once i get started watch out! i dont like things with deadlines and i feel like its so much work that you need to have it out for a long time to make it worth all the work! so now the time is drawing near where i will feel like its not going to be long enough to make it worthwhile. of course my grandkids and 3 of my kids will be here so that makes it all worthwhile!!!! theres no way i would have a family christmas without lots of decorations. this is just part of the stress that ive mentioned before that i put on myself. it can take away the joy of decorating if i let it! could this have something to do with being manic depressive i ask? or maybe obsessive compulsive? or maybe even anxiety? or possibly all of the above? my answer is most likely the later!!! anyway gotta go and stop talking about all the stuff i need to do. it just tends to make me more stressed out! im going to an ornament exchange this afternoon and that should be great fun!