I love decorating... heck, my business from home is being a Designer with Celebrating Home, a company specializing in home decor. So, it's no wonder that after the holidays, when the tree is down and all of the nativity scenes are put away, and the garland is back in its box, the house just seems to look empty and almost bare- just like like winter often feels. 

I happen to love the month of January. A new cousin was just born into our family yesterday, so that's a great reason to love January. My birthday is on the 11th, and I usually always love celebrating my birthday- though this will be my last birthday celebrated in my twenties. My mom's birthday is also in January, closer to the end of the month. January is also a time where lots of things start new, or resume from the previous year- which helps to keep me in good spirits. January really also symbolizes winter to me for some odd reason, and I always hope for snow in these days.

Because I so enjoy January and its wintery offerings, I cannot turn a blind eye to it- I must find a way to celebrate it, and make my home seem joyful and glistening with wintery spirit. So, I have a box of wintery decorations. It's filled with various snowmen and snowflakes, and contains my snowflake flag for the front porch, as well as a wreath I made while we lived in Maryland. I don't decorate with snowmen or snowflakes during the Christmas season. In my mind, they just shouldn't come out of hiding until January. So, they will be brought out as the Christmas decorations are put away.

I know that Sacha, my husband thinks me silly for all of this. However, when we were newly married and living away from 'home' in Maryland, not knowing a soul, I spent a lot of time decorating our tiny apartment, and he would always come home to find things moved around, or new holiday decor to greet him. He said that even though he makes little jokes about my need to decorate, and change things, he secretly loves that I do it- because it makes our house feel like home. 

So, I continue to decorate the way I like, and as Balian begins to get older, he'll enjoy them for a little while. There's just something about snowflakes hanging from the windows, a snowman sitting on a shelf and a family sitting together, drinking hot cocoa from their favorite mugs.

I love January...

~Ondria~