Christmas is the perfect holiday! Everyone is full of good cheer, the milk of human kindness and 20 pounds of candy. All gifts are given with love, are exactly the right size, are exactly the right color, or exactly the right thing for exactly the price you could afford. Right? In your dreams!

If YOUR Christmas seems to fall short of perfection every year, here are some ways to slow down and enjoy the unexpected and imperfect joys that the season brings

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1. News Flash from God! You are not perfect! Nor is your family! Give up the myth that they should be and just let them be themselves!

2. Don't make the season complicated! Simplify! While elaborate decorations may appeal to your decorating ego, putting them up takes time and energy that may be best spent elsewhere this Christmas.

3. Everything doesn't have to be homemade. Pies, cakes and cookies are perfectly acceptable if they are bought at a bakery. And your children just might celebrate if you decide not to make that knitted scarf this year!
4. Relax. Take time out from the hustle and bustle to just sit with a cup of tea or cocoa and read. Or take a long hot bath. If you take some time for yourself, you will be better able to cope with the holiday chaos.
5. Let other people pitch in. You are not the only one who can do Christmas! Ask someone to do tasks you usually do, such as make the eggnog or cookies. And then LET THEM DO IT - even if they don't do it just the way you want! Don't constantly look over their shoulder.
6. Don't make the season an ordeal for your children by expecting perfect behavior. Children can easily be overloaded with the food, sights, expectations and social whirlwind of the season. Again, simplify for their sake -- and yours!
7. If you can afford to hire a cleaning service before company comes for Christmas, do it! Give it to yourself as a Christmas present! You will enjoy the season more because you won't be worn out from scrubbing that tile with a toothbrush!
8. If you can't afford to pay cash for a gift, wait until next year to buy it. Save for the gift in the meantime. The short term thrill of buying the gift now will be more than overpowered by the struggle to pay it off months into the new year.
9. Get out of the house and walk when you begin to feel stress. It will help you calm down and keep off those extra pounds. And it will give your family a break from you!
10. Don't do guilt - to yourself and others. Don't use your expectations of the season as a weapon against your friends and family. Enjoy what comes this season. It may not be the perfection that you expected - it may be better!

And remember - love doesn't come wrapped in paper, or tied with a bow. You can't get it for $19.95 if you call now or for two easy payments of only... you name the price. But love is found in the corners of a small child's smile, the twinkle of a father's eye or the drape of an arm across your shoulder. If you are too busy planning the perfect holiday, you just might fail to recognize it! So slow down this year and enjoy the holiday. It may not be perfect, but perfect is overrated. It will be, however, a celebration of your life and family - imperfect and real.

When you think of neutrals, do you think of boring beige? Or tame tan? Broaden your thinking, people! Neutrals can range from white to black, from dark chocolate to milk chocolate, from tea to coffee, and from latte to espresso. Each of these colors can serve as a background for an explosion of accent colors or as the main color palatte. So when you are deciding on a neutral palatte, explore one of these rich and decidedly non-boring colors. I am thinking that anything the color of chocolate can't be boring.

Ok, I went shopping today. Not Christmas shopping, or even Thanksgiving shopping, just grocery shopping. As I drove through the neighborhood, I was surprised at the many houses who already had Christmas decorations up. Am I an old fuddy-duddy or do we decorate earlier and earlier each year? My personal opinion is that we are losing the anticipation - the sense that Christmas is special and something to look forward to. When do you decorate?

With Thanksgiving only a couple of weeks away, I ran across a great idea on (In)Courage.com. The idea is to make a box (any box will do, but I would try to make it festive). Give the following instructions to all your friends and family: Write on a piece of paper the things for which you are most grateful for this year. The things can be small or large. Don't sign the paper. Then on Thanksgiving day, as you enjoy your meal, have guests reach into the box and read one of the items. You can guess who wrote the thanks or just rejoice in the thanksgiving. A wonderful tradition to start with your family.

We are in the middle of football season, and most of the men I know are talking about the necessity of "Man Caves." What happened to enjoying the game with your family? Personally, I don't endorse any room in your home being touted as a cave to separate from the family. And I love football. Put me in the middle of the game watching. What do you think?

My sister and I went to buy blinds this weekend for a very small, even teeny, bedroom window. According to the sale flyer, said custom blinds were 60% off. When we were told the total amount for said blinds, however, they ended up costing the equivalent to the GNP of a small third world country. Did I mention this was a teeny window? We ended up ordering a cheaper alternative - ready made blinds ordered to the correct length. They were about one quarter of the price and will still look good.

So if you want custom blinds, you can say goodbye to your bank account. Instead, why not explore cheaper alternatives that can be dressed up with a little work. Blinds to fit most windows of a standard width can be ordered in custom lengths at a much better price than totally custom ones. Feel free to ask the shop for cheaper alternatives. Most can come up with several selections that will work for you. So my motto this week has been "Go cheap or go home (with a pocketbook still intact)."

Daniel Drolet of Canwest News Service recently observed in the Windsor Star that

The colour palette available to consumers in any given year is determined by the Color Marketing Group, a U.S.-based international association that does colour forecasting. Increasingly, the fashion world is influencing colours in home design. And because fashion is influenced by current events, the recession has muted colour options in 2009.

I am not entirely sure I agree. I see so many bright and sunny colors in home decor lately. Of course, that may be a reflection of where I live and the southwestern colors that are such a strong influence around here. I certainly hope that people will brighten their color palette. Your surroundings can influence your mood and outlook. We can stand a brighter outlook for the next year. So go out there and add some color to the neighborhood!

When you have a whole room to decorate. the thought of all you have to change can cause your pocketbook to shrink. But you can redecorate most bedrooms or bathrooms for the cost of a few top sheets and a little creativity.

Sheets can be one of the best low-cost materials in home decor. There are dozens of ways to use them and you don't have to buy the highest quality ones to do it - although you can easily find high thread count sheets at most discount or bargain basement stores now. Remember to buy the largest (king) you can find for decorating (more fabric for the buck).

If you are decorating a bedroom, use the sheets to add a bright new cover for an old comforter (just make a bag out of two sheets and stuff the comforter in the middle. The bag can be closed with buttons. Upholster a small side chair with a sheet to match. You can also cover a side table with a sheet cloth, cover a bench at the foot of a table, make pillows with sheet scrap fabrics, cover a lampshade, make easy curtains, use as a wall covering, braid strips for a rag rug or make drapes for a canopy bed. You can do all of these things with sheets, but I would recommend you not do them all in the same pattern. Too much of a good thing (or floral sheet} can really be too much!

I saw this terrific valance idea this week. The homeowner had created a wooden shelf painted to match her decor. She then added cabinet knobs along the bottom of the shelf. She created a valance that had loops along the top which were then looped over the knobs. Family pictures and other collectibles were placed along the shelf.