It used to be that the holiday season started with Thanksgiving but everyone knows that retailers have pushed it back to about mid-July. In my house, it starts when the Hallmark Channel starts showing Christmas movies. You know the ones. Girl has good job in New York, travels to small town, meets man, falls in love, quits job, stays in small town. Anyway, that is when my wife starts to get excited about the season.

This year there is even more of an urgency to prepare for the holidays. Rose’s son and his girlfriend, who is not his girlfriend (it’s complicated), are flying in tomorrow. They will stay for his birthday on the 18th and for Thanksgiving before leaving the following Friday. So, obviously, it is important to have things ready.

The first thing to prepare for was the annual cookie bake extravaganza which includes pumpkin rolls and Chex mix. Before that could be started, Rose had to set the oven to “clean.” That caused our house to be a bit stinky so I opened some windows to air it out a little. Of course, that did not go unnoticed by our cats.

Next was our Christmas tree, which I kept stored in a large zippered bag. before I could even finish unpacking it, Chris managed to crawl inside. Naturally, that got the attention of Floki and Frankie.

Then we had to get out the decorations which meant plenty of opportunities to investigate or just lay in a box.

Finally, because of or in spite of all the help, we finished our Christmas tree.

Next, I have to put lights outside. I must admit I am a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to decorating but I especially don’t like stringing lights outside the house. It is something that mostly only gets seen by the neighbors so it seems like it is done solely to impress the neighbors and I don’t care about impressing the neighbors. I do want to make my wife happy so I string lights.

What are your thoughts on decorating for the holidays? Am I wrong about the outside lights?