I like to decorate for the holidays. Truly I just like to decorate. I actually think this is why and how I celebrate most holidays—it's all about the decorations. I do like traditions too, but I kinda think the traditions grew out of the fact that I was putting up decorations, so needed to come up with a way to justify them, ha! I collect little do-dads and place them around my home, in the corners and on my kitchen window sill. I'm weird like that. I think my grandkids (when I get some) will like this about me. It seems grandma-like don't you think?

Early in my marriage I had a little wood shelf that I painted barn red. I had no money, so I saved up and bought it unfinished. I called it our holiday shelf and I would tote it from house to house and hang it in a prominent location and then decorate it differently each month. I even took a tole painting class—yes, this dates me—when I lived in Utah, so that I could create little wood decorations to display on my shelf. It was DIY before DIY was cool. I'll have to see if I can find a picture to post!

Today is National Strawberry Day. One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was THIS CALENDAR. I love it. It's old fashioned in that it hangs on my wall and I can easily look at it and see the coming days and note which fun and silly holidays are approaching. Had I not known that it was National Strawberry Day then I may not have purchased strawberries at Costco when I was there and I would have missed out on a FUN after school moment with Addie Lu. We had dumped the strawberries into my big orange colander and rinsed them off. I was going to pull out the stems and cut them up for dinner, but then Addie started eating them and we started talking and giggling and I realized that to truly celebrate the strawberry—it all it's heart-shaped glory, with that perfect little stem handle—we would all need to eat them whole. Addie helped me put them in a big bowl. We sprinkled a little sugar on top and then shared them with Dad and the boys when they got home.