Sorry, mom.

Dear mom,

I did something crazy last night, and I feel like I need to come clean about it. I'm not sure what caused me to do this crazy thing, but I have some theories...

Maybe it was pre-setting FM 103.1 on my radio after getting home from Disneyland.
Maybe it was waking up to snow yesterday morning.
Maybe it was my impulse purchase of candy cane kisses (and my impulsive act of eating half a bag in one sitting).
Maybe it was not skipping over Justin Bieber's Christmas album when my ipod was on shuffle.
Maybe it was Pinterest blowing up my feed with things like, "50 stocking stuffers for men" and pretty pictures of neatly packaged gifts (we know why that was suggested for me-my wrapping is the pits).

All of these are probable, but the direct cause remains unknown. But yes, it's true--I put up my Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving.

As I was putting up my tree last night, I couldn't help but feel a little guilty, because ever since I can remember, you have always put yours up the day after Thanksgiving. You never directly told me it's a rule to put them up after Thanksgiving, but it was just kind of implied, you know? Kind of like how it's a rule to go to the movies and get popcorn or watch Dirty Dancing whenever it's on TV even if you've seen it a thousand times--you just do it.

So I hope your mom-heart will forgive me for being unfaithful to this unspoken rule of yours, because my garland is out, my JB Christmas album is on repeat (no shame!), my bowl of candy cane kisses is half empty (not half full! no optimism when candy cane kisses are being reduced!), and my tree is up and beaming! And thank you for noticing the two different sizes of lights on the tree, because Pinterest told me it makes it look better. What Pinterest didn't tell me is that hanging lights on a Christmas tree is a freaking B, and that you need to buy two boxes to wrap the entire thing, or else you'll have to take your one strand of lights and just zig-zag it back and forth in the front and hope that no one ever looks at the back of your tree...

WOW. That felt good to get off my chest(..nuts roasting on an open fire...).

Even though I've broken the Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving rule, I promise I won't break the other rule you have: Christmas decorations come down December 26th.

...at least I'm pretty sure I promise?

Sorry to let you down mom. I tried so hard to stay strong! I really did. But I'm also kind of not sorry, because my house smells like a pine tree and the glowing Christmas lights give me tingles! The same kind of tingles that I get from watching Ellen--the tingles that bring tears to my eyes!

I'm not sure if I'll break this rule every year, but I just hope you understand where I'm coming from this year, and that I'll still be allowed to come over and eat all of your Christmas treats from the neighbors + steal dad's BYU truffles he gets from work every year and tries to hide in his nightstand.