Okay, okay, I know Christmas is more than a month away.

And I know you're already sick of overwhelmed by the Christmas decor you see in all the stores, the Christmas music on the radios, the Christmas catalogs that come daily in your mailbox...

You can hate it, or you can embrace it.

Me, I've chosen to embrace it.

All this early Christmas marketing is encouraging me to get my Christmas shopping done early, so when it's December I can sit back and enjoy myself! At least, that's what I hope will happen. I've tried to do this before with mixed results.

My husband is a professional photographer and every December he has a two-weekend show for our county's art council's Open Studio Tour. In years past he's been at a local Bed-and-Breakfast. Now that we've moved closer to town he's going to do it at our house...which means that our house needs to look good by the first weekend in December. Christmasy. Clean.

You see that I have motivation for getting started on all of this early!

Anyhoo, in case you want to decorate your tree with any sort of Russian theme, or in case you just want to include something Russian-y on your tree, I have some suggestions for you.

First, e-bay. Just look up "Russian ornaments" or "Matryoshka dolls" and you'll get some great possibilities on e-bay. I am going to get a Papa Frost Matryoshka (maybe 2) for my mantel, personally. There's a mess of Christopher Radko ornaments with the Russian theme on e-bay, if that's your thing. They're too expensive for me, personally, but a good friend gave me one last year for a gift, so I know they can be very special.

Second suggestion: The Golden Cockerel. This is a brick-and-mortar business in Boone, NC, and they also have a wonderful on-line store. In addition to the ornaments and matryoshka (including a beautiful Holy Family set) are blank nesting dolls. How cool would that be to make your own matryoshka set?

Third suggestion: Arkangel's "In my heart" ornament. This is a gold-plated, embossed ornament (see picture above) featuring St. Basil's cathedral and the phrase "Not under my heart, but in it." It's a special ornament to commemorate adoption from Russia AND all the proceeds go to the children in the orphanages in Arkhangel’sk. You can also get the back engraved for an extra $3. This is a bargain!

So - deck the halls, Merry Christmas, and soon-to-be S'novum Godum!