I started writing this post after running out to pick up dinner for me and Brad on Friday night. (We had one of those date nights where you rent a movie and order take-out, then wait until the kids go to bed and pretend like they don’t exist.)
It all started when I pulled out of the alley and caught sight of one of our neighbors’ house. It was all lit up with Christmas lights!!!
This was the house that, just a week ago, looked like it belonged in some horror movie! For Halloween, they put really big, black spiders all over their house, and then cover the yard in cobwebs and scary lights and sounds – even a smoke machine! But last night – just a week or so after Halloween – it looked like the Gingerbread house from the Hansel and Gretel story! (Of course, given the fact that the witch in that story was going to EAT Hansel and Gretel, maybe the horror theme remains.)
In fact, the text I sent her said “Wow!! Your house went from Nightmare on Elm Street to The Gingerbread House like, overnight!!! Looks great!” to which she replied “Thanks! I still have a lot to do but am hoping to finish it tomorrow.” As I was writing her the text, I looked up just in time to swerve around a car and almost hit another one when I saw a different neighborhood with decorations donning their entrance, complete with Christmas lights!!!
But it was when I turned on the radio and heard KLTY doing a Christmas preview weekend – ALL WEEKEND, ALL CHRISTMAS MUSIC, ALL THE TIME – that I really started to lose it.
I was all like IT IS NOVEMBER 14TH PEOPLE!!! I can’t start thinking about Christmas yet?!! I’m hosting Thanksgiving at my house! I have a turkey to thaw!!! Do you know how long it takes a turkey to thaw?? If I start now, it MIGHT be ready by Thanksgiving!!! And desserts and appetizers!!! Christmas?!! Since when did Christmas come BEFORE THANKSGIVING???
And then, something happened to change my attitude.
On Monday morning, the temperature dropped from the 80s to the 50s. Oh, glorious cold front! I had forgotten how it felt to be cold!!!
Today, after dropping ALL 3 of my kids at various schools, I went to Target. I STARTED CHRISTMAS SHOPPING! I came home and turned on the Christmas music and briefly considered eating the pre-cut sugar cookie dough (but stopped myself because seriously, someone went to a lot of trouble to put that little picture of a reindeer in that cookie and then charged me a lot of money for it!) I’m even considering getting the Christmas decorations out of the attic because, now that it’s cold, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas! And I’m happy to do my part.
But then, I have to wonder, will I still feel the same way when the temperatures soar into the 80s again? Because, after all, this is Texas, and if there is one thing you can count on, it’s the heat.
Well, that and my neighbor’s obsession with decorating her yard.
