OK, Halloween is out of the way, Thanksgiving is around the corner, and my favorite holiday is not far behind.
I am so looking forward to it this year, I already started buying Christmas decorations. Let me back up the clock a year....
Last year we had been through a tough move. All our stuff wasn't unpacked. We were paying two mortgages. Life was, shall we say, not easy. But by God's grace, we made it.
At Christmas time, we didn't have up a single decoration. The week of Christmas, although we had no funds to speak of, I couldn't stand it anymore and bought a used tree from the thrift store. Let me disgress for a moment right there. I loved the thrift store. I got NO problem whatsoever with second-hand materials. I have purchased many pairs of pants, jackets, and other items there. And at times like last year, it was really the only option for a tree. Everyone else wanted $100 and up for artificial trees. I can't have a real one, my wife is allergic.
Also, we didn't have any real lights to put up. We moved out of our house in Memphis, which burned partially right afterward. Some of our items either burned up, or "had help" walking away with all the contractors coming in and out of our home, sadly. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the fire, we had all moved out, and no pets were in the building. Our Christmas decorations were in the section that burned, so we were without, save for a few strands of lights. So, last year, after Christmas they marked a bunch of things down, then I jumped on it. I have many, many strands of lights now, snowflakes, icycles, and other items. Sales rule.
So this year, I'm totally chomping at the bit to get started. I even sketched out our property to figure out what I want to go where. My favorite Christmas movie is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, where Chevy Chase plays Clark Griswald, a man obsessed with having the 'perfect Christmas'. He is my idol in fatherhood, a guy throwing himself into the project, especially the lights. Up on the roof, stapling himself to the gutter with 10,000 lights, he is all of us. He is every suburban dad trying to do a lot with a little, and learning valuable lessons at the same time. As one of his character friends put it in the movie, he is the "last family man."
Now normally, I wait until the day after Thanksgiving to put up lights. Can't do it this time, captain. I am starting as soon as the rain lets up and I get the grass cut one last time for the season. Bring on Christmas!
"And the rockets red glaaaaare, the bombs burst in the aaaairrrr...."
