Wow! You all are amazing! When a girl is down, you all
really know how to pick her up, give her support, offer hope, advise, personal
stories, hugs and love, your own tears, empathy, sympathy and understanding. I
thank you all from the bottom of my heart for everything. If I could give you
all a hug, I would. Better yet, you know what I would love to do? I would love
to have a little party, invite you all over to my apartment in Paris and we
could talk about everything, laugh about everything and try to move forward
perhaps with 2 to 300 cocktails. The good news about me is that I very quickly
pull up my knee socks and move forward. Unless one wants to wallow in the
misery (I hate people who do that), I think the best thing to do is move
forward…with a smile. So…here we go…
It’s officially Christmas season. I have been listening to
Christmas music since 8:30 AM this morning. Loudly. My caregivers think I’m
weird, my nurses think I’m weird, my kinesiologist looked at me funny and guess
what… I don’t care because I loooooove Christmas! My tree arrived today, the
ornaments are out, the garland is on its way and we are ready to decorate!
Gracie told me that she wanted a very traditional tree this year. I am not one
for traditional so I thought, “How could I do a traditional tree… With a kick.”
I know, I know, I know… I will use tinsel! Christmas tinsel. I have never used
tinsel in my entire life but I thought that it is the epitome of Christmas
traditional… And chic! You are going to laugh but I swear to God I watched a
video of how to put tinsel on a tree. My caregivers are going to be so thrilled
when I tell them that they have to put on the tinsel strand by strand. They are
either going to quit or murder me. (Gracie already refused to do the tinsel.) But
guess what? Come hell or high water, that tinsel will be on the tree by
morning.
So, I had an idea. I thought it would be fun if we had a
Christmas contest! What’s a little competition amongst friends, right? C’mon,
it will be fun! Here’s my idea… Send me photos of your decorated Christmas
tree, I will share my top 10 choices on the blog, then I will choose my
favorite one, and I will send a copy of my Christmas book, A Very Chic
Christmas, to the winner along with a little gift from Paris! Even if you already
ordered my book, you can give the other one away as a gift. (No, mom, you can’t
enter.) Don’t be shy, don’t be intimidated, just go for it… It will be fun!
Show me your best… Traditional, modern, flocked, old-school, children’s, fancy,
casual… Whatever it is… Make it unique. I only have one request… Please,
please, please, for God sake, do not send me a photo of your upside down Christmas
tree. I think that is the most ridiculous Christmas trend I’ve ever seen. You
will ruin my Christmas spirit if I see one upside down Christmas tree. :-)
The deadline is December 15 because if you don’t have your
tree by December 15 you might as well just just skip Christmas.
I am so excited to see all of your trees. It’s always good
to get fresh inspiration each year for your Christmas tree so I have put
together a great board on Pinterest of some seriously inspirational Christmas
trees. Click here to see all of them. You will love them! Here are some
inspirations…
Your tree doesn’t have to be huge to be wonderful. Your tree
doesn’t have to be matchy matchy to be wonderful. Your tree does not have to be
perfect to be wonderful. Your tree doesn’t have to be expensive to be
wonderful. Your tree does not have to be professional for it to be wonderful. I
like all sorts of trees… White lights, colored lights, just lights, lots of
decorations, no decorations, garland, no garland, solid color, lots of color…
You name it, I like it… if it is done with some style. Your tree should be
filled with love!
I am so excited to see everyone’s trees. My caregivers are
currently in the living room decorating my tree. Uhhh… Stay tuned for that. I’m
pretty sure I should keep my expectations low. Better yet, I’m pretty sure I
should just go to the George V hotel and steal their Christmas tree.
Let the competition begin! Send me a photo of your tree to
my email address: havesomedecorum@gmail.com. My cat, Frances, and I will look
at every single photograph and judge with a softly discerning eye our favorite
tree. Remember, the deadline is December 15. Start decorating!
*Something you don’t know about me? When I was young, on
Christmas morning, I would wake up very very early, go to the living room and
see what Santa had left for us. Then, I would run back to my sister’s bedroom,
wake her up, and tell her everything that she got. And then she would cry
because I would ruin her surprise. “Heather, Santa brought you an Easy Bake
Oven!” I just couldn’t help myself. She’s probably still mad at me.
