People seem to decorate earlier and earlier each year for Christmas, right?  And a lot of other people find that annoying.  While the first group loves their habit with a passion.  It turns out that people feel strongly about their holiday decorations and the time at which they should appear every year.

We usually fall squarely into the “no Christmas until after Thanksgiving” category, but I made one slight alteration to that plan last night.

Why?

Well, I got my first Christmas present in the mail yesterday, and I couldn’t resist putting it up right away.  Thanks, parents!  I love my felt mistletoe.

I’ve been eying this mistletoe on the West Elm site for at least three years now (you know, in a healthy way that means checking the site a few times per holiday season to see if they still sell this stuff), and I almost broke down to order it for myself a few weeks ago.  Instead, I put it on my Amazon wishlist like a good girl.  As a result, this is now hanging merrily in our living room:

photo from itsoverflowing.com (originally from the West Elm site), where they’ll teach you how to make your own version

I am a very happy lady, even if I broke our family decoration schedule.  I’ll leave it in the box until after Thanksgiving next year, I promise.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I just saw this recipe and immediately wanted to try it out:

photo from designsponge.com

DesignSponge folks posted this recipe for Alex Guarnaschelli’s Green Bean Casserole.  Those little fried onions on top have been a personal favorite for years, so if you can tell me how to make them perfectly on top of a pile of homemade green bean goodness, I’m in.  Maybe we’ll be signed up for a side next year, and I’ll have a recipe waiting for me.  But this year is the year of pie for us.  I’m not complaining!