You prepare for the Christmas season all year (the stores do, anyway!), and then just like that, it’s over… and you have to prepare again the next year!
But even with all the rushing, the stress, and the mess, it’s hard to not love that time of year.
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So, until next December, hats off to the Christmas season 
Hats such as…
A hot pink hat to match the hot pink Christmas ham Jones soda I did NOT drink. Other flavors included Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes and Butter, Brussels Sprouts, Salmon Pate, Antacid… seriously, it’s like Bertie Botts (from Harry Potter) of sodas. I gotta ask: who would want to drink Pea-flavored soda? Just a wild guess that one’s not their most popular seller.
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How about a mistletoe headband? They make such a thing?
Apparently they do.
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Or what about a gift-wrap bow (as modeled by my silly sister)?
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And then there are the puppy hats…
We only left them on long enough to snap a photo. I’m very much against clothes for dogs (aside from winter coats to keep them warm).
It’s just mean.
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Other fun—albeit strange—Christmas hats:
If you can find nothing else, the red hat will have to do.
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Hey, it works for this guy!
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Question of the Day:
When do you start preparing for the holiday season? And when, after it’s over, do you take down all your holiday decorations? We usually take them down on January 2nd. But I have some crazy-motivated neighbors who get their lights and tree up on Thanksgiving and have it all down by December 26th! (We also had some old neighbors who left their lights up–and on–all year long. But that’s another story 
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To see who won the Wild Bar Giveaway, click here 
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{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
I love prepping for Christmas! I’m always sad when it passes so quickly. We put up our decorations pretty early… around the end of November. The Christmas Tree usually in the first couple weeks of December though… And we leave them up ’till the middle of January or so… they’re just pretty to look at
I like to take all the decorations down once Christmas is over (my parents leave them up until January). It’s time to get ready for the next holiday which issss….uh valentines day? uh nevermind lol
cute pics!!!! we take ourr tree down around jan2
i hate how quick holidays fly by
We take our decorations down a couple days after Christmas and usually put them up the day after Thanksgiving!!
Hilarious but cute hats!
<3 jess
xoxo
hahah love all the hat pics! i’m thinking the pink one is from vs?? super cute
we’re taking our decorations down today…and i’m dreading it
have a happy saturday, lovely girl <3
xoxo
My family usually decorates soon after Thanksgiving and de-decorates on January 1st or 2nd. My mom always wants to take stuff down earlier but we beg to leave it up – it eases the shock of the season ending so quickly.
I’m so sad to take our decorations down…we are doing it today or tomorrow.
Katie, you are always cheerful. I like to post daily, but today for example I have no inspiration and I feel a post I make would be just depressing and stuff, so i skip the day…i admire how u post up something beautiful each day. Inspiring.
Cute hats and all. No real decorations or stuff for me anyway, so boxing up not an issue
Hope your start to 2010 went well.
you could rock a muskrat hat and still look incredibly cute
oh you and that smile – gets me every time!
I can’t believe the Christmas season is over all ready.. after all that anticipation, it’s just.. done. I don’t like it! Ah well, only 359 days until next Christmas
Im so sad christmas is over. Were taking down our decorations today… boo
But you look so festive in your santa hat and your mistletoe headband!
Hope your rocking in the new year.
We meant to get our decorations up for weeks, but they ended up being put up the weekend prior to Christmas! I guess we were just really busy. They are coming down today.
And I love your pink hat!
omg! Ive heard of those jones flavored sodas! Ha! I wonder if they reallly taste like what the flavor is suppose to be. If so I dont think I want to be drinking liquid ham soda. eewww! hehe. The hats are super cute girl! Love them all. I especially love the hot pink santa hat! Feminine and festive all at the same time!! Its great! =)
I love christmas decor so I start putting them up right after thanksgiving. My Christmas tree is still up and I have no idea when that baby is coming down. Probably this weekend. Im always sad to see it packed up. Its always lights up the place so well!=) But in any case it just brings me one day closer to some hot summer weather so its ok!
I hope you are having one amazing new years so far girl!! You are the best!
Hi gorgeous – nice to see you in 2010!
Jones Soda is right down the street from my office. They have Happy Hour on Fridays and give away free sodas. They have a great sugar-free root beer, but then I kinda gave it up altogether. That holiday pack cracks me up though – did anyone drink one?
Great hats! I am with you on the animal clothing. They are animals not people and they have all that hair to keep them warm! Now I know there are some dogs that do get colder but come on people!!
We usually have all of our decorations down a couple days after Christmas except for the outside lights. This year my husband didn’t have time to take off the tree lights so I stripped the tree down to only the silver and white balls and added silver ribbon. Then took down all of the Santa decorations and red, except the poinsetta’s. It was more a new years look than Christmas.
I heard in some towns they fine people who leave Christmas lights up after a certain date. I wish they would do it everywhere!
This was the first year that husband and I put up decorations, and we did it about a week after Thanksgiving, and took them down yesterday (January 1st) – it worked for us.
Growing up, we had neighbors that kept their Christmas tree up for MONTHS into the new year – it was a tradition for our family to take bets on the date they would take it down…usually fell in March.
Haha, I love the photos! I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year.
We decorate our house and put up our Christmas tree on or around 01 December. The whole lot doesn’t come down until the 12 days or Christmas are over, so no earlier than 06 January. After all the hard work preparing for the holidays, it would be a shame to take it all down the next day.
We also put up our lights sometime in October and take them down sometime in February. It’s simply too cold (and dangerous) to be climbing a ladder two stories in the air in our hostile winter weather.
congrats to the winner! aw you are so cute, and those pups of yours are precious! EW ham soda? guh-ross. i’ve always wanted to send in a picture to Jones and see if it makes a label, one of my friend’s friends got theirs picked!
Love the hats, especially the mistletoe! Super cute!
We took our decorations down pretty early this year because we were supposed to be going out of town this weekend, but that got nixed, so we were just left with an empty house to celebrate the new year!
Wishing you a magnificent New Year katie!
You are too cute!! Oh and I totally agree with you about clothing on animals.
Since I’m Jewish, Christmas decorations was something we always missed out on. We have an electric light menorah that uses colored Christmas bulbs that we put in the window for Hanukkah but it’s not anywhere neeeaaar Christmas lights. So I love to look at others (although there is a house nearby that I noticed decorates their house for Hanukkah in shades of blue and white lights and big Jewish star lights).
My neighbor, on the other hand… I’ve lived in this house for four years and every year I see her do something I consider to be WOAH. About a week before Halloween, up go the decorations in her yard. She basically creates a haunted house, skeletons, ghosts, pumpkins, graves, creepy music, orange lights. After Halloween she transitions to “fall,” taking down the skeletons and ghosts, leaving up the orangelights, and adding red and yellow to the mix. By Thanksgiving her house is an entire Thanksgiving scene, complete with Pilgrims, leaves, and a giant blow-up turkey like those giant blow-up Santas everyone has lately. After Thanksgiving, it all comes down and she puts up red, blue, and green lights for most of December. Two weeks before Christmas, she comes out and creates her yearly crowning masterpiece: The Christmas scene. There is a Santa and reindeer. There is a snowman. There are penguins that hop out of gift boxes. There is a giant blow up snow globe that MOVES, shoots SNOW, and plays music. There are snowflakes. There are ribbons. There is music. There are lights. It totally makes up for me never having my own Christmas yard. I look forward to it every year.
Cute hats : ) I actually have the spiral topped Santa one!
I WANT to take down my Christmas decorations and the tree the first Saturday after New Years but my hubby wants to leave them all up until the 15th. I am so taking them down tomorrow! The tree is a fire hazard at this point : )
Happy New Year!
i adore the hats!!! and i those novelty jones juices gross me out…. but i am tempted just to taste it. what were they thinking??
we never put anything up (b/c we’re gonna be gone) so no need to take it down LOL
xoxo
We put up our decorations near the beginning of December. Never before December 1st, but sometimes we have to wait for the first weekend to do it together. And take them down usually on New Year’s; this year we won’t do it until the 3rd or 4th, though, just because we’re out of town.
Um… veggie-flavored sodas?! Butter-flavored sodas?! No thank you?!
I bet you got lots of kisses by wearing that mistletoe headband. 
We start prepping for the holidays at the beginning of December and normally keep decorations up until after New Year’s Day, or even later if we’re reaaaally lazy. Decorations for local establishments seem to start after Thanksgiving, though (but they come down earlier than ours, haha).
I usually start a countdown to Christmas embarrassingly early (think September) but don’t start getting in the spirit until after Turkey Day. We (ok, Mom) took down all the decorations yesterday. I guess it’s time to put away my candy cane scented body wash
Your comment about the Christmas lights up all year makes me think of that song “Redneck Woman!”
those sound like the strangest sodas!! haha
Love all the christmas hats!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR<3
I love this post! Everyone looks gorgeous in their hats, even the puppers!
Hmmm…I start preparing and looking forward to the Christmas season on….December 26th. Seriously, I am perpetually ready to celebrate Christmas, put up trees, hang lights, and sing Christmas carols. I LOVE all things Christmas!
Katie,
Your sister has the most amazing eyes! Beautiful family.
We usually decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving, and everything is put away on January 1. Of course, our tree is still sitting out in the front yard. Need to drag it off before the neighbors start to complain. Hehe.
You guys and your hat-love – so cute! I usually put the decorations up in the first week of December and take them down on that traditionally British date of Twelfth night – the 5th of January! One more day to go!
We took ours down the day after Christmas–the little one had so many new toys strewn about the house we needed every available inch of living area back! I think our babysitter takes the cake, though. We dropped by her house around 3:00 on Christmas day to drop off a present, and she already had her tree down and out by the curb! WOW!