Deck the Halls {a confession}

I have a confession to make.

I never took my Christmas tree down last year.  It's been up almost a full year.  Sometimes I turn on the lights.  Even in July.  Do not judge.  It makes me happy and it's always nice to have some extra lighting.  Plus it made me feel like I was living in a Pottery Barn holiday catalog every single day.  And you just can't beat that feeling.  And it made me hopeful for snow days even in the heat of May.  Hey, it could happen.  You know what they say: Christmas ain't over til the crazy lady undecorates.  Wait.  Do they say that?  Well, they do now.

You see, last year I got a fabulously huge Christmas tree.  It's absolutely gorg.  It took me about two weeks to get it up and decorated to my liking.  And I liked it so much that I couldn't just take down all of my hard work a few weeks later.  That's the worst part about Christmas.  I love all of the decorations but they have to come down so quickly.  So I intended to leave it up until the end of January.  The end of January came and went and I planned to turn it in to a Valentine's tree.  Well...the hearts never made it on my tree so I decided I would give a spring tree a shot with butterflies and flowers.  Spring sprung and before I knew it I was out of school for the summer and my tree was still up.  At that point, I saw no reason to take it down only to put it up again in a few months.  Right??

Throughout all of this, every single family member and friend thought I was an ABSOLUTE NUT.  But guess what?  Here I am, relaxing on the couch looking at my beautiful tree while all of my friends and family rush around, climbing up attics and dragging decorations out of basements and garages because it's suddenly socially acceptable to deck the halls.  Chances are, I'm the smartest one in my crew.  Sure, the tree may have been a bit out of place in July but really, the way time flies these days, the season came 'round again before I knew it.  And now I don't have ANY holiday decorating to do.  I am beyond brilliant.  Beyond! Brilliant!  So THERE!  I'm totally onto something.  I imagine I'll be starting a trend here pretty soon. 

Whew.  Feels so good getting that off my chest.  Maybe that helps some of you understand exactly why I was planning a Christmas gift exchange in October...

I want to know...when do you put up your decorations?  When do you take them down?  Have you ever left yours up all year-or known anyone who has?  And will you still be my friend even though I just shared some of my crazy with you?

Here's a little Christmas tree teen numbers freebie for those of you who will continue to be my friend, even though I'm slightly to moderately crazy.

PS: Don't forget that I'm running a sale over at my TpT store!  20% off everything, including some of my new holiday products!  Use the code CMS28 on Monday for an additional 10% off!