A goodwill Christmas recap

When I was growing up, I don't remember ever seeing one Christmas tree set up in anybody's house before Thanksgiving.  Not ever.  And not only did the Christmas trees not appear until after Thanksgiving, almost everyone we knew kept their Christmas trees up through New Year's Eve.

Instead of Thanksgiving and Christmas being one blended holiday, it was the week of Christmas and New Year's.  That was the holiday week.

Over the past twenty years, it seems like that has changed completely, and I've wondered why.

Is it because more people now use artificial trees, so they can be put up much earlier?  (I only ever knew one kid whose family had an artificial tree growing up.  Now at least half the people I know use them.)

Was it a regional thing?  I'm from upstate New York, where there was almost always snow at Christmas.  And most people took the week off between Christmas and New Year's - did the snow and vacation time seem to make the Christmas holiday last longer?

Or maybe now people are much busier, so they dismantle their trees during time off during Christmas.  Or maybe they're so tired of them (I know of a few people this year who put their trees up the weekend after Halloween, really!) that by the time Christmas Day arrives they're just over it.

I don't know.

But since our tree is never up and decorated till the first or second week of December, I always like to make it last as long as possible, and keep the tree up through New Year's Day.

For our last holiday-day of 2020, here is a recap of the Christmas goodwill highlights this year:

The Christmas flowers in Goodwill/thrift store vases

My new serving & candy dishes I picked up at Goodwill recently for a few dollars each.

Aren't they pretty?

My sister-in-law on Christmas Eve.

We always have a Christmas Eve appetizer party after church.

(I just happened to notice - almost everything seen in this photograph [minus the grandfather clock that came from my grandmother] came from an antique store, a thrift store or Goodwill.)

Can you tell these vegetables are supposed to be a wreath?

My Southern Living cookbooks from Goodwill came through for me again!

Before Christmas our family entered a "carwash karaoke" contest to try to win my son a Play Station 5.

While we didn't win, I do think we managed to make an epic video.

Here are Santa, a panda and un muchacho before performing "Feliz Navidad" at the carwash.

(I'll spare you the video.)

And finally, Christmas dinner.  

I just love to use the dining room.

I know a lot of houses are not being designed anymore with dining rooms; I will always have to have one.

Just another reason to love old houses...

🥂🎉🌟 Happy New Year's Eve! 🌟🎉🥂