Dancin' TSO light ain't got nothing on us!

12/10/07
Well, I finally put the lights on the front of the house. It looks... uhm... well, let's just say, Santa won't have trouble landing his sleigh on the runway in our front yard. Honestly, O'Hare has less blinking lights.

It's not all that bad, really. Just extremely different than what we normally do. Which is pretty sedate in comparison since it doesn't usually blink, or "twinkle" as it were. Damn those impulsive (oxygen deprived) moments I have every now and then where "twinkle lights" sound like such a great idea. I think I read somewhere that flashing lights can cause seizures if you stare at them too long. So at least they're outside where I don't have to actually look at them every night. Instead my neighbors across the street get the pleasure. Lucky them.

Silent revenge for the endless nights of flashing blue police lights shining in their driveway when their kids still lived at home? (Not to mention the raucous parties, the games of "dare ya" where they knocked on my door at 3am and ran like hell, times they spun doughnuts with their hot-rodded lawnmower in my yard, and who could forget them screaming like banshees in heat at each other at all hours of the night, and those wonderful times they revved up the engines of their altered-to-be-obnoxiously-loud trucks just so the neighborhood would know they've got new pipes, but my personal favorite is when they run around the circle that is our street flying the Stars and Bars yelling 'yee-haw' at the top of their lungs... shall I go on? They're what happens when you give rednecks money.) So, revenge? Nah, I'm not vindictive. (yeah, you just keep thinking that too)

As of putting the lights out front, I am nearly done with decorations. We have yet to put the ornaments on the tree, but that is all that remains to be done. Since the kids were with my parents this weekend (ALL weekend!), we didn't get a chance to finish. I always helped my mother decorate the tree when I was a kid. I guess I am just trying to continue the tradition.

Anyway... Daniel had a field trip today to the mall to see Santa. He was actually a really good one this time. Not like in years past at that same mall where I am convinced they grabbed the first prepubescent male they could locate and dressed him in a red robe that was about 12 sizes too big for him. This year, he had a real beard and was "chubby and plump", like what you'd expect to see if you've read "T'was the Night Before Christmas." My boys raced right up and sat on his knee and told him all the details of what they wanted. It was really quite cute.

It was certainly more of the mall than I cared to see. I'm just not much of a mall person, I suppose. It reminded me, yet again, of why I do almost all of our Christmas shopping online. I can think of nothing inside the mall that I cannot find online. 9 times out of 10, it's also cheaper. Jaded? A bit, perhaps. I am perfectly content to continue to shop with my fingers, thank you. The rest of you can have the mall and keep it.