It’s a cloudy, snowy Sunday.

I slept in and had no intention of putting up my Christmas decorations. For the first time in a while I felt a bit lonely today. Thankfully thoughts of cozy evenings with my kids during upcoming holiday visits bumped my dreary demeanor to the curb.

Normally I put my decorations up the Friday after Thanksgiving. When the kids were growing up it was a tradition to decorate the house on Friday and go to That Pottery Place to make giant mugs, dog dishes, or holiday decorations on Saturday. I still have a few of the things we made, including my favorite over-sized bright green and blue polka dot coffee cup and saucer.

It’s never been great for coffee, it’s so big the hot liquid turns to room temperature almost before you’ve had time to take a sip. It does however, make a great place to keep loose change in case one of my kids needs a little laundry money to take back home with them.

It’s the first time in my adult life that I’ve decorated the house with the knowledge there was no one coming home this evening to enjoy the holiday transformation with me. It feels a little strange.

At first I thought it was silly to decorate until the day before the inbound Christmas flights arrive. But now that I’m done and there’s a stuffed Santa on the window seat, the stockings are hung by the fireplace, flames are flickering behind the glass doors and from the winter green candle tops, I’m glad I didn’t wait.

There are a few things left to do. I need to buy a wreath, figure out whether or not I’m going to replace my outdoor decorations, and last but not least put up the tree. The tree is going to have to wait until Christian gets home and has become our new tradition we’ll decorate it on Christmas Eve.

The stockings are hung and I’m ready for Christmas hugs and warm cozy nights.