Winter?

Yesterday I stepped outside around 4:00 am...I was surprised to feel the ice cold wind chill...my ears turned red from embarrassment from exposure. Nevertheless, is Winter here to stay? Temperatures today have warmed to 50 degrees with a south wind. Mother Nature - please make up your mind. How are we supposed to get into the holiday spirit when we are getting out the sunscreen?

Yesterday, the "women-folk" in the office decorated our Christmas Tree - errr holiday tree. They will decorate the other tree today. I wish I knew how to decorate, but the ability to adorn escapes me. My idea of decorating is cleaning up - so I'm a terrible decorator. But, as much as I don't enjoy decorating, I do like to see decorations. I am a staunch traditionalist in virtually every facet. I like white lights, not multi-color. Popcorn and cranberries suits me fine, and it smells delicious. Red ribbons are good, too. With a star on top...of a real tree.

Neverhteless, some people like to decorate their entire yard. This is done for two reasons: Excitement to plug indoor lighting to outdoor sources and to mark territories. It's like putting up a festive fence...and good fences make good neighbors, right? My parents' neighbor has a fence, but it's to keep the neighbor in, not my parents out.

New principles have been established when decorating a yard. A yard is comsidered incomplete without a blow-up Santa Klaus riding in a car. The fairy-tale of Santa is about to be lost with children, but I suppose they can always look up the "origins" on the internet. Kids will soon find out that Santa doesn't exist because he does not have a facebook page...sure their are "groups", but no person. Santa should madernize. Back to yards - decorators must also place lights around old cars in their yards...and make loops around the tires. The light-up icicles are finally being phased out...I can only imagine how messy they are to uncoil. Anyway, icicles in the east are as common as zebras. But if you have a zebra, please put a wreath around it's neck.

Decorating the front door, to me, is nice! I like a piney-cedary wreath! Decorators should also decorate the interior of their homes, and everyone should have a tree...otherwise Santa can't visit, right? Candles in the window are not a good idea, but they look good. Playing holiday background music is always fun, but annoying after you hear "feliz navidad" for the eleventeenth time. Even if you don't enjoy decorations/decorating - do it for kids...

Enjoy the day...