> > We put the Christmas tree up today.
> > Howard
>
>
> We hung up our outside lights, but "can't turn them on until
December 1st!"
>
> te "married to the Grinch" ach

I have very strict rules about when I can engage in each stage of
Christmas preparation. Christmas music absolutely does not
come out until the day after Thanksgiving (though I can begin
playing Christmas songs on the piano as soon as Thanksgiving
dinner is over.)

Our family decorations go up the first of December, or the first
available day thereafter. It's a big production, pulling out the
boxes and unwrapping everything. This will be the first time in
four years that I'll be around for it... while I was away at school
my sister took on my yearly duty of arranging the nutcrackers on
their shelf, and I hope she won't mind giving it back to me.

We don't get the tree until the next-to-last weekend before
Christmas. Then we decorate it the next Sunday. This, too, is a
big production, with cookies and hot chocolate and each of us
with our little shoeboxes of our own ornaments.

With the Christmas season, these days, beginning at the end of
October and lasting halfway through January, it's nice some
things don't change.

Lire"anticipation junkie"lyn