Looking Forward to Christmas
Christmas comes but once a year, but its enjoyment need not be limited to a few crowded days in December. Anything so nice as Christmas deserves to be anticipated a long time in advance and remembered a long time afterwards.
This is true to many pleasures. Much of the fun of a trip is found in planning it, deciding where to go, what to see, what to wear, how much to spend. So why not spread the fun of this festival through the year, by planning and preparing for it in every season?
A good time to look forward to Christmas is when you have just finished enjoying one. Then you may be full of ideas for next year. And if you plan to make your own decorations, there will be added delight in finding and storing the materials you will need—and in getting them as cheaply as possible.
A shopping spree right after Christmas may disclose some exciting bargains. Many expensive decorations are sold at half price or less, because it would require too much space to store them for another season. A small closet shelf would hold them easily, together with tree ornaments and lights, and it will be like finding treasure-trove to discover them there next December.
On the same shelf might be kept a special Christmas notebook. It would contain addresses of stores that carry the things needed to make a Merry Christmas. Certain stores specialize in candles. It is convenient to know where they are when candles are wanted. There are out-of-the-way gift shops which can supply unusual candle holders in various sizes and designs. Make a note of them; then buy the holders when your plans for Christmas decorating are complete.
It may even be a good idea to do a little housecleaning when Christmas is over. Why keep damaged decorations for another year? Tree ornaments in poor colors or silly shapes might as well be discarded at once.
Summer can be a productive season for the farsighted planner. Vacation trips may take us to places where cones, seed pods, bark, twigs and other materials can be had for the taking. Sources of useful materials, such as evergreens, berries, moss, wire and thread may be listed in the notebook. Some are difficult to get when everybody is buying in December. If they will store well, it is wise to acquire them when they are easily available.
Looking Forward to Christmas part2
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