Decorating for Christmas

This guest post from Walter Horn
I try to do my Christmas decorating in stages so that decorating feels like a pleasant holiday activity, not an overwhelming chore. The first step is always dragging the decorations out from my attic. I make a neat pile of all the boxes and bags that's out of sight somewhere. The first box I always unpack is the one with my Christmas music collection. One of my prized possessions is my vintage turntable, so I break out the Bing Crosby and Julie Andrews Christmas records to listen to while I decorate.
My next step is the lights. My boyfriend is kind enough to decorate the house's exterior while I do the inside. I put electric candles in the windows, white lights around our garlands, and blue lights under polyester fluff to look like snow. Next comes all the Christmas figurines, knick-knacks, and candle holders I've received as gifts over the years.
The final step is always the tree. The first step is always finding the tree skirt and stringing the lights. Finally, everyone takes a turn placing the ornaments. The last step is always putting the star on top of our newly decorated tree.
When we're all exhausted from our Chrismas decorating, we find some classic Christmas movies on directtv offers and settle in for a night of holiday classics with steaming mugs of hot chocolate.