Tis Not Yet The Season?

It is Monday, November 16th, and our neighbors two doors down have decked the halls. Well, honestly I don’t know for sure if their halls have been decked, as I haven’t been inside, but the outside of their house indubitably has been. As of this afternoon, more than a week before Thanksgiving, their eaves and their fences are lined with sparkly bluish-white LEDs. Not the most attractive of lights, in my opinion, as LEDs don’t give off the warm glow of incandescents and tend to look a bit dreary and cold, but still much prettier than the rest of this dark and lifeless neighborhood.

The way I see it, there are two types of people, or two camps. In the first camp are the fun people who like to light up your life as early as allowable by anal-retentive HOAs. In the second camp are the scrooges who whinge and complain about merriment coming too earrrrrly (who I suspect are the same ones who run the HOAs). My neighbors two doors down are merry-makers, and I like that.

I understand being annoyed by Christmas appearing in the stores way earlier each year. No, actually I think I just lied for the sake of camaraderie. Maybe I’m a little annoyed by the pushy retail industry, but I’d really be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy browsing wrapping paper and C7’s in October.

Yes, I said October. The Christmas trees, inflatable Santas, and 93″ Teddy Bears *(I shit you not. Scroll down.) appeared at Costco way before the Halloween stuff made an exit. Trees, Christmas villages, and Christmas crafts showed up at Michael’s and Joann’s around the same time. I admit I think it’s a little ridiculous, and a lot retail-greedy, but it still makes me giddy.

I love it when the lights go up, and I don’t care how early. In this way too serious and scary world (thinking of Paris and trying not to cry again tonight) we need all the good cheer and beautiful twinkly stuff we can get. I think I’ll put our lights up this weekend as my contribution to the merry-making and my protest to the hate.

My kids will complain. They’re hardcore December Firsters. I’ll explain why I think everyone needs earlier cheer this year. They’ll give in, because they’re cool like that.

And I’ll keep those incandescent C7s up a little too long this year, because it’s depressing when the lights disappear and the world becomes drab and real once more.

*Here’s that bear. I don’t think that would fit in my car. Or even in my house. But I could totally use it as a bed?

Are you a merry-maker or a scrooge? I’d like to hear why.