Holiday Restraint

Holiday merchandise tempts me - ornaments for the tree, serving bowls painted with snowmen, Christmas decorations - yet I maintain restraint. The words, "Will it fit in the bus?" run through my mind with every item I pick-up. So instead of buying more seasonal stuff, I simply fight the urge to buy this year.

I have always loved Christmas decorations. Our tree went up on Thanksgiving night and will remain in the living room until New Years Day. Bayberry candles scent the dining room and will be burned on Christmas Eve in the half century old family tradition to bring us good luck. This year, I dug out my childhood Lionel train, the one with the orange colored engine. I like hearing it hum around the tracks under the Christmas tree. I found some working twinkling lights in the attic and hung them around the front door. And, in a burst of craziness, Ed and I used electrical ties to hold another set of lights around the arms and back of my Cracker Barrel porch rocker.

One new decoration did arrive in my weekly office mail. It's a 10 inch snowman toting a Christmas tree over his shoulder and holding a star as a lantern in its hand. I didn't actually buy him, I bid $10 on him when the online charitable auction started. No one out bid me; in fact, no one else bid on him. Guess people in Texas just aren't into snowmen like us transplanted northerners. I hope he will fit in the bus!