My name is Diana and I am a Christmas Decoration-aholic

Hi Diana

I love Christmas decorations. I love the lights, I love the chotchkies, I love all the attendant fru-fru that makes up the season. I will say that a few weeks ago when I saw my first Christmas store of the season that I was kind of appalled - Not appalled enough to not to go inside and touch everything in there, but appalled enough that I did not walk out of there with a new tree skirt and a pet themed creche set. I have just the one tree but somehow I have managed to collect five tree skirts. I think I also have a tree skirt problem.

It was too early then. That was then. This is now. Christmas is much, much closer now and I have Christmas cards ready to go and I all ready formally started shopping for gifts. Once you start officially shopping on purpose for Christmas gifts, its Christmas decoration go time. This weekend I walked into the belly of the beast. I went shopping at New River Pottery, where the Christmas season starts in August.

I walked in the door and walked into Christmas Decoration Heaven. Or hell, depending on your tolerance for hearing Christmas carols before Halloween. Sadly, my tolerance is awesome and all I had to do was walk through the arch.

It was at that point that I drank the sugar plum cool aid and things got a little fuzzy

 

I was now in The Christmas Zone. I was surrounded by gilded sea shells and plastic cup cakes and festive flip flops and fish lots and lots of fish. Whole schools of fish. There can not possibly be enough seafood restaurants on the east coast to explain the plethora of spangly fish offered for sale. There was an entire tree covered with sea life.

But I had to move on. For the most part, other than the dip into The Under Sea World of Jacque Clause, it was pretty standard, you know with the Snow people

I was still feeling pretty rational and clear headed. I hadn't touched anything yet, I wasn't humming Santa Clause is Coming to Town to myself, I was keeping in mind that just because I had checks left it didn't mean I still had money and I  was still grasping the fact that my house is only so big and I can only store so much stuff.

Things changed.

I was so blinded by the sheer number of decorations I didn't even see that ugly plastic bag in the middle of my shot! I wanted ALL OF IT. I wanted the plastic candy. I wanted the  stuffed gingerbread men. I wanted the metal trees. I wanted Santa Chef. I wanted, no needed every single thing I saw. I started to rethink all the stuff I all ready had and quickly dismissed all of it as old and tacky and done. I wanted the new, the pretty and the sparkly! I didn't want this old unpretty not-as-shiny-as-it-used-to-be crap I have had for years. No I wanted the paste cup cakes for 2008. I need the newest, top-of-the-line Christmas technology.

And it was all there. Any Christmas themed anything was right there at my fingertips. Are you into tiger heads? How about cheetahs? They have you covered. Are you into log cabins? Aisle 4. Are you into weird shell covered sea birds? they have two different kinds! Or how about dogs in drag? Do you like to dress your dog? How about dogs dressed like affluent Victorians?

And how about Santa?  There is a lot of scholarship out there about how we picture God and how important it is to us that God looks like us or shares our lifestyle, is there anything out there about Santa?It was Santa, Santa everywhere. E, I,E, Santa everywhere. Happy Santa's, Working Santa's, Rich Santa, Poor Santa, hunter Santa, Chef Santa, Fireman Santa, Beach Santa. There was a Santa with Rudolph's head on a pike... There were all kinds of Santa's. I love Santa's, I have many, many Santa's. I have a Santa problem. I liked this Santa, kind of laid back Santa.

I thought I had exhausted the lifestyle Santa's until I ran across this guy

There is a Santa for all of us, in all of us, about all of us.