Holiday Decorating: Is there such a thing as to much?

 

As the holidays approach, especially my favorite Halloween, I began thinking… “What kind of mother do I want to be when it comes to celebrating the holidays?” And the answer came to me as quickly as the question… the one who goes ALL out. Now the question is, “Is there such a thing as to much?” Well in my opinion absolutely not. Now if anyone knows me they know I am not the type where they can drive past my house on Halloween or Christmas and it will look like a full blown haunted house or the North Pole, but that’s what I would like to aim for. I know you might be thinking that you have definitely seen people that go overboard. You’ve passed that house with so many Christmas lights it’s hard to even look in that direction and thought that’s such a waste of time. Yeah, you might be able to use that time for something else, but it does make that holiday that much more special.

Now with that said, I don’t decorate this way myself, but I do believe in constantly adding to your holiday decorations and never settling for the same thing year after year. I believe in the cherished old decorations with the exciting new. Growing up, we had the most magical holidays. About two months before each holiday my mother, while we were at school, would transform our house and we would come home to a wonderland. We would look over all our old decorations with the many new ones my mother had added to the bunch. We got to enjoy that holiday for not only that day, but for months before. The anticipation was just as good as the holiday itself and the decorations were the catalyst for all the fun. This is why I strongly believe there ISN’T a thing as to many decorations. They are so vital to the holidays themselves. They encourage us to put more thought and effort into the day and as a result appreciate the day more. Think about when you were growing up there was always that one house that was decked out top to bottom that you just had to drive by at least once. As a kid there was a house in our town that was so good at decorating for Christmas it will be engraved in my sister and I’s memories forever.  Another example of this is the theme park Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri.

We go there multiple times a year due to the fact that it’s only an hour away, but more importantly is that it knows how to do holidays right. Christmas time at the park is beyond magical and we never miss. As children we loved this and to this day we still treasure the place and go every year with our children (Picture of my pregnant self and husband this last Christmas at Silver Dollar City).

Children will always look forward to driving past that certain house to see the lights, going to their favorite theme park, trick-o-treating at that one house who gives away full size candy bars and so on. These days have great meaning of course, but next to the ultimate meaning of the holidays themselves it is so important to make these days special for the children. The more special and magical you make it for them when they are young the longer they will hold on to that magic and ‘kid-like’ state of mind as an adult. AND what is better than that really.

So again, I say no, there isn’t such a thing as over decorating. So if that’s what you want to do then that’s awesome. Those around you… friends, family, neighbors and passers-by alike will appreciate it. It’s equally acceptable to be more modest with decorations like I am now. I do hope to one day accumulate an abundance of décor for each holiday so my daughter can come home to a wonderland just like I got to as a child. I want to make it magical!