Every year after college, Christmas has been a capital-p Production - thanks in large part to my boyfriend's family, who are fiercely festive beginning several weeks before Thanksgiving and stretching juuuuust past the New Year.
For starters, every year the gift wrap scheme is a little different. Oh, we plan that stuff. We browse Pinterest boards and hunt through Target shelves and come up with the perfect paper-ribbon-tag combination that is equal parts practical and ornamental.
This year we indulged an undeniable flair for the dramatic and wrapped packages in tulle, which has such visual volume & presence that I don't think we'll be going back to ribbon.
And speaking of ribbon - that's how we exploded red plaid all over the tree.
Part 2 of the Production is a party featuring endless trays of cheesy cornflake-topped potatoes and the smallest barbecue sausages known to man - family & friends literally spend the entire year waiting for both.
Somewhere in there we fit in a Christmas train set (it's exactly what it sounds like) & presents invariably get unwrapped several days early as some people decide they can no longer wait.
Next year's challenge to self: More plaid. More tulle. More time. More denial when the season ends.