Stores like Hobby Lobby are already laying in their Christmas decorations, and if you want to get the best selection possible, now is the time you should start looking.  True, you’ll be paying full price, but sometimes you have to do that just to find the things you really want/need.

For instance, our garland was … well … it was looking sad to be blunt, so we knew we were going to have to replace it this year.  We’ve already done this and had our pick of the different choices because we hit it early.  Sure we could have waited until after this Christmas season to get stuff on clearance, but who knows what we would have found left over.

So, get out there and start replacing those things you feel need some freshening up before I get there and beat you to them!

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Start Your Christmas Decoration Shopping Now

The video shows some of their 12,000 sq. foot display room at their offices in Huddersfield, and it really is the sort of display everyone wishes they could set up in their own home each year.  Although I’m not quite sure what’s up with the chimp-looking Santa and the brief scene of pirates …

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Christmas Decoration Showroom

Of course the most important ornament to me was Frosty Friends 2010, the 31st in the series.  I have collected this series since 1981, when the second one was released.  yes, sadly I am missing the first in the series from 1980, and if you can find one of those for under $400 now, it’s a miracle.

The only thing that disappoints me is I have to head back in October to pick up the Christmas Vacation ornament, but smart marketing on their part as it gets me back in the store again.

Here is what I picked up so far for this year:

• Frosty Friends 2010, 31st in series
• Triple-Dog Dare (A Christmas Story)
• Poor Ralphie’s One Chance (A Christmas Story)
• U.S.S. Enterprise (Star Trek)
• A Star Is Born (Rudolph, Red-Nosed Reindeer)
• Jack Skellington’s Surprise (A Nightmare Before Christmas)
• Snow One Like Tinker Bell

I know this sounds like an awful lot of ornaments, and I’m heavy on characters, but I use Hallmark ornaments for more than just my main Christmas tree.  Like, I have all the Jack Skellington ornaments with my other Nightmare Before Christmas collectibles.  (What can I say, I love Halloween, too)

Which ornaments have you picked up so far this year?

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The First 2010 Hallmark Ornaments Have Arrived

With your kids at home for the summer, you’re bound to hear a lot of moans about “I’m bored!”  Instead of giving them a couple dollars to go buy junk food, or setting them down in front of the TV, why not start working on some crafts for this coming Christmas?

Now of course we aren’t talking making a gingerbread house in July (ignore the picture in this post on that part), but instead things like making ornaments.  Name a grandparents that wouldn’t love getting a handmade ornament from their grandchild.  Exactly, you can’t do it.  Instead of waiting to until a week before Christmas when everyone is busy, you can do it now and take your time with the project.

And also think about the lessons you can teach your kids with this.

• Christmas is about a spirit of giving, and you can keep it in your heat all year long.
• Handmade gifts can always beat store bought ones.
• It’s never too early to get an “assignment” done.

So it may seem a little odd to be making a Christmas ornament with fireworks going off, but it can keep kids entertained while teaching them sneaky lessons about life and family.

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Summer Activities To Prepare For Christmas

Welcome to Bronner’s.

Bronner’s opened in 1945 and has become a year-round physical and online store carrying over 50,000 Christmas related items.  The physical store is open 361 days a year, and is the size of 5.5 football fields.  If you can’t get to the store in Frankenmuth, Mich, you can also shop their online store, but wouldn’t it be more fun to visit the store in person to see all of the dioramas they’ve set up?

I can’t say I’ve ever been near Frankenmuth, but after learning of this store, and seeing videos of it, I sure would like to go, preferably in the summer so I could at least be half way between Christmases!

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Bronner’s Year-Round Christmas Shopping

Pictured to the right (click on the picture for a larger view) is the 2009 version of The Christmas Truck: an example of holiday spirit on wheels that was born out of one man driving a generator and a few strings of lights to his church in a $50 used pick-up.  Inspiration hit him while transporting the lights, and now for 25 years Kris Marshall has brought amusement to the residents of Dallas and Polk counties in Iowa.

Mr. Marshall told Jalopnik that he has used eight different trucks over the years, but it’s always a 2WD Chevy/GMC with a regular cab and eight-foot truck bed “the way a truck ought to look.”  It probably doesn’t hurt that he is also a GMC dealer.

Current estimates say that the truck has around 3,000 lights on it, and in the daylight it is a horror show to look at due to all the electrical wire and tape criss-crossing the vehicle.  It is, as you can guess, illegal to drive with a vehicle like this, however he has only received a few tickets over the years as most cops are in on the joke now.  We wouldn’t recommend tempting the law in your area though.

What are some of the craziest displays of Christmas lights you have ever seen?

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The Christmas Truck

Look, I know it’s cold out there, and I know no one enjoys taking down their decorations, but do you realize you are damaging them at this point?  Last weekend I went to Iowa to visit a friend; it was about a two hour drive, and even in that short drive I couldn’t believe the amount of Christmas decorations I saw still out on homes, and even some still lit up at night.

Don’t get me wrong, I take no personal offense at them still being lit up, I know some people do, but I am more concerned about electrical bills.  Don’t forget that you’re running up your bill each night they are on.

The biggest concern is the damage you are doing to them.  Even if your weather has been clear, the sun is beating down on them, bleaching out their colors, drying them out, making them fragile.  Unless you feel like having a cracked Nativity scene, or bulbs that have lost all of their coloring, you need to get them inside as soon as possible.

Inside the house?  Knock yourself out.  I have a Christmas tree I leave up all year round and enjoy.  I don’t do it out of laziness, I do it out of a love for the holiday.  Outside though is a different, get them in before they start getting damaged!

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Remember To Get Your Outside Christmas Decor Put Away

While we all seem to be more and more pinched for space in our homes, it can be nice to have all of our Christmas decorations and lights stored in one place so that we can easily access them any time we need to.  And, no, we don’t mean the attic.  Who wants to up there twice a year to bring them down and put them back up?

While the term “Christmas Closet” is the one most commonly thrown around, it can really be any centralized place in your home to keep all of your Christmas items.  With clearance sales right after Christmas each year, you should be stocking up for next year with your wrapping paper at least, and wouldn’t it be nice to have easy access to it?  What about keeping all of your lights and ornaments in plastic tubs, or at least clearly labeled boxes?

The other benefit to such a spot in your home is allowing you to keep gifts you buy throughout the year, and then being able to locate them at the appropriate time.  No one ever said you can only start your Christmas shopping in November or early December, you can actually do it all year long.  Check out those summer sales, and when you find the perfect gift, just put it in your Christmas closet so you can get to it later.  Heck, you have easy access to your wrapping paper, you could even wrap and tag it so it as completely ready.

What are you waiting for?  Get organized!

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Preparing For Christmas All Year Long With Your Christmas Closet

While the Christmas tree is of course most associated with the holiday it is named for, there is no rule saying you can’t use it for other holidays. It can be a pain to take it out of storage, set it up for a month and then drag it back into storage for the next year. If you enjoy your tree, and are willing to keep it dusted, why not keep it up all year and change its decorations with the holidays of the season?

Around RememberingChristmas, we all love Christmas lights, and have found by using white lights on our tree, we can change the tree to match just about any holidays.  Easter is coming up in the spring for instance, why not make ornaments out o those plastic eggs you put little prizes inside of into ornaments?

Valentine’s Day?  Cover it in kids Valentines or heart decorations.

You get the idea that if you can find ites related to a holiday that are fairly small, you can make a tree out of it.  The only thing you need to do is to remember to dust it as if you’re lights build up dust on them they can begin to overheat which will smile quite badly once they do.

Have you found any alternate uses fo ryour Christmas tree in other parts of the year?

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Use Your Christmas Tree Year Round For Other Holidays

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Christmas Lighting Done On The Cheap