Our daughter recently started a job with a finance company. After five years in college she had finally decided on a major and completed her degree. She and a friend moved into a two bedroom apartment. They are both just starting out, but they want to be independent in purchasing things for their apartment. My daughter feels that we supported her enough getting her through the five years of college.

The girls have gone to second hand stores and discount stores to decorate their apartment. It looks nice and they will buy new pieces once they are able to afford them. My daughter asked us over for dinner early in December. She said they had been decorating for Christmas and they wanted us to see the apartment. My daughter has always loved Christmas as much as I do. She and I would spend hours decorating for Christmas when she was still living at home. My husband commented on our way over to her apartment that he hoped she did not spend a lot of money on decorating for Christmas because her car needed replacing very soon.

I asked him not to nag her about spending money. She is pleased with her salary and she is quite responsible. I reminded him that when we were her age we did not always buy the most practical things. He promised not to bring up the issue of her car.

When we arrived at their apartment you could see some of their decorations from the parking lot. They live on the second floor of a three story building. They have a deck that faces the parking lot. On the deck they had wrapped Christmas lights around the rail along with evergreen garland. They had red bows attached to the garland. Our family had always included the outside of our home in decorating for Christmas, so I was pleased to see that she was carrying on that tradition.

Inside the apartment the girls had bought a nice Christmas tree and had decorated it with lights and colored bulbs and tinsel. My daughter had also placed her assortment of ornaments on the tree that I had given her through the years. They also gift wrapped their apartment door. They had candles on the table and a nice center piece on the coffee table. My daughter’s first attempt at decorating for Christmas was a great success. They bought inexpensive things, but they grouped them together well and the over all look was very festive. I know she will add to her collection of decorations as the years go by.