I used to stand at my kitchen sink, watching my two kids squabble over who gets to hang the biggest ornament on the front porch, while my neighbor waved from across the driveway with a plate of cookies. Life in my forties is busy, messy, and full of small rituals that make our house feel like a home. Weeknight homework sessions, weekend soccer games, and those quiet moments when the youngest naps and the oldest builds forts on the living room rug all blend into the kind of memory I want to keep. Decorating outside became a family ritual that…


