The Post-Halloween Plan

Seeing as Halloween is officially over, some people would happily start playing Christmas music today and keep going right on through until New Years. (You know who you are!)

These crazy, um, enthusiastic people get baffled and frustrated by scroogy Thanksgiving loving people like myself who argue that it's completely unreasonable to start with Christmas already. After all, Christmas has it's own month, doesn't it? There's no reason for it to gobble up the whole month containing Thanksgiving as well!

When Christmas devotees and Thanksgiving lovers share a house, where's the compromise?

Here are my best tips:

Love the idea of sharing s'mores kits!

1. Start Thanksgiving traditions. Really what most Christmas lovers want is festivity. So add a little extra festiveness to your Thanksgiving plans! Plan a beautiful table-scape for your big dinner and intentionally seek out Thanksgiving-themed decor that you love. Having some fun pieces you only use one month a year will make it much easier for everyone to hold off on pulling out the Christmas stuff. Consider planning an afternoon of hot cocoa, popcorn and decorating to swap from Halloween to Thanksgiving just as you normally plan a day for getting/decorating a tree in December.  

2. Use transitional decor. Look for pieces that can transition easily from Thanksgiving to Christmas: fat cranberry- colored pillar candles, red and gold napkins or dishes, and ribbons or flowers in classic colors like white or silver.

3. Incorporate advance planning. There's a fantastic list over at The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking of ten things you can do in November to prepare for Christmas. These great ideas (like hitting the salon and writing your gift-giving list) will provide plenty of fun to tide your Christmas-lover over until Black Friday without frustrating your Thanksgiving lover.

4. Remember what really matters. Regardless of which holiday you prefer, it's hard to argue with the fact that they both center on family, friends and counting our blessings. If we bicker and gripe (or selfishly ignore our loved ones' happiness) we miss the point and ruin the potential of everything. So do what you have to do to keep your head on straight as we dive into the two craziest months of the year, but don't let yourself - or anyone else - forget what really matters: Loving on one another.