“Are you seriously going to keep that thing in there all year?” my husband asked. 

I turned around and smiled at him as I placed my precious family heirloom in my china hutch and shut the door. “Of course. This is where I keep my most precious things, and this is definitely the most special of all. Plus,” I added as I looked back at it over my shoulder, “it just makes me happy every time I see it.”

You see, it wasn’t a dish or a serving platter I was putting in my hutch. The reason my husband was balking was because it was a vintage brooch Christmas tree my great-grandmother made over 70 years ago. And when you look at it, there’s no denying that is screams Christmas. It brings me joy 365 days of the year, and not one day less.

Those of us who celebrate Christmas early (ahem, year-round) are a rare breed.

We start to get the itch to pull out the Christmas decorations right after the 4th of July and sing Christmas carols to our children as lullabies every night. By the time Halloween rolls around, if our trees aren’t already up, we have the box sitting out in the living room and are counting down the minutes until 12:01 a.m. on November 1st.

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Here’s the thing—people call us all sorts of names: Buddy the Elf, Thief of Thanksgiving, the Crazy Christmas Lady, and Eggnog Drunk. And while most of us take pride in being called those names, there’s one thing that we just can’t understand: Why are you hating on our joy?

Yep, that’s why we love decorating for Christmas so much and why we can’t WAIT to decorate every year. It brings us unbelievable joy.

It speaks to us of something good. It reminds us of Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, baking Christmas cookies, snuggling with Mom and Dad on the couch while we opened presents, and driving around looking at Christmas lights. It reminds me of the way my uncle smelled when I would give him a hug as he walked in the door Christmas Eve, camping out under the Christmas tree and falling asleep to the twinkling lights, watching my little brother get his first bike, and twirling around the living room in a crisp, new Christmas dress that my mama made. And for the love of Rudolph, it looks beautiful!

And to be quite honest, every time I look at that glittery little Christmas tree in my china hutch something warm starts to grow inside of me—something joyful.

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Christmasifying all the things before Thanksgiving is just always going to be a thing for some of us, it brings us joy.

And don’t you think this world could use a little bit more of that?

So hang up your hat and grab yourself a cup of hot chocolate, Ebenezer Scrooge. Christmas is here early this year, and it’s going to live in my heart all year long.

To view Lauren’s Farmhouse Christmas Tour, click here