The smell of turkey and cranberries and stuffing and far too many pieces of pie are still fresh in my memory, but I’m ready.

Christmas.

Magic.

It’s time.

For an entire week, beginning on Decorating Day (the Friday after Thanksgiving… uh… duh. (You can Google it. If it doesn’t come up right away, your computer is probably broken and you might want to look into that)). Anyway, this past week has been all about creating a magical Christmas space to live in.

For, like, a whole month!

That means one twelfth of my entire existence (okay, my adult life, but still.  And it’s more than one twelfth – because the decorations are out for more than one month – if I’m intentionally lazy (which I sort of am when it comes to keeping Christmas around).  So it probably really has been one twelfth of my WHOLE LIFE that has been spent in the midst of a personally Christmas magic-ified home environment.

It’s sort of like… a Christmas command center!

Oh the power!

Oh, wait. No. I don’t want to talk about the incredible power that I of course have. I wanted to tell you about something else.

A favorite.

Decorating Day really spans the course of about a week. The whole weekend following Thanksgiving is the big push. Boxes come up from the basement, and they are opened. Every year I am surprised at how happy I am to see the Christmas colors and symbols.

The face of an old bear.

The wooden countdown calendar, with the 25 wooden doors, to hold 25 little surprises, for 3.5 eager kids.

The nested Santas that I remember as old friends, from when I was small, and living in a cold home.

The past several years, I’ve saved one decorating task for last.

And today it was time.

This morning, knowing I wanted to share it with you, I took a photo of the long buffet-type furniture thingie in the Dingle dining room.

The trees and sled have been sitting there for a few days, just waiting for me to get started.

I’m pretty sure they knew today was the day. The little birch tree kept falling off the table every time Marshal Dillon Dingle did an excited pass.

I’m pretty sure it was actually leaping for joy.

So bags with boxes came upstairs early today.

I welcomed back old friends all afternoon long.

The skaters.

A snowman.

A child playing with my own favorite childhood toy (the Fisher Price Barn with the doors that moo’d when I opened them).

Busy electrical engineering elves.

Mrs. Claus.

One-armed Mickey Mouse (tragic accident, ingestion of ‘former arm’ by Fred. We don’t talk about it). Anyway, One-Armed Mickey is making a snowman with some kids.

The Sleigh.

The reindeer.

The Big Guy.

And then I unpacked all of their familiar places.

Like a magical community planner and developer, I examined and evaluated and figured out where each building would sit.

I was the ultimate inspector – from building to electrical.

I signed off on the certificates of occupancy for an entire village as the sun went down.

And then I channeled my inner Mother Nature.

And, right on cue, it began to snow.

And before my eyes, what was a plain, long buffet-type furniture thingie, became the magical Christmas village of my dreams.

Something straight out of the North Pole.

It’s my North Pole.

C’mon.

I’ll show you.

Every year, this same snowman watches over all the skaters at the skating rink. I’m not sure why he never melts. I think it really is Christmas magic because I can find no scientific rationale for it.

A short walk from the skating rink is the newest building in these parts. The Cornelius and Bumble Tree Topper Factory is going to really draw a lot of people to the village. The tree at the entrance to their factory is enormous. And, clearly, only a Bumble could possibly put the topper on that tree.

I signed the occupancy permit on the condition that Bumble will be tooth free, and was assured a dentist by the name of Hermey had that covered. 

At the center of the village, we come across the Big Guy. He’s checking his list for the second time and, as you can see, his sleigh is totally packed with stuff for good girls and boys. Sure, he’s a tad judgmental, but – then again – he controls the list, the toys, and the distribution channel.  I’m plannin’ on being good.

To help Santa create that list, and just around the corner from Santa’s castle, is the Naughty and Nice Detective Agency. The Agency operates 24/7.  Not much gets by these guys.

There is an indoor skating rink (with a ‘Race Today’ (they race every day, I guess)) located near the Polar Power Company and the Christmas Critters Pet Store, and the Polar Power Company always has a lovely Christmas light display (which makes sense, because they’re – like – responsible for the lights and stuff.)

 And then, next to the pet store, is Flurry’s Snow Globe Factory.

 I’m kind of a fan of great snow globes, so I’ll be checking in here often.

So that’s it folks.  That’s the tour.

Oh.  But wait.  I have a surprise for you.

Let’s just walk over here to the private helicopter that I managed to charter just for you (oh ya, I totally spared no expense!).

Okay, be careful. Careful.  CAREFUL!

Oh my Gawd I totally thought you were going to be all headless because you were SO close to that rotor!

Okay, are you all set?

Buckled in?

Okay, close your eyes. I’ll tell you when to open them…. okay, here we go… here we go – Oh, I know. Doesn’t your belly feel funny as we go up?

Okay, don’t open your eyes.

Don’t open them… don’t open them….. don’t open them….

Not’t yet… not yeeeeeeettttttt….

Okay.

Open ’em.

Thanks for readin’.

As always, you can come on over to Just Ponderin’s Facebook page to comment or just hang out.