The countdown begins.

Where did the season go??? I remember running out for that Christmas tree as if it were yesterday. Now, there is less than a week to go to the Day and I just finished wrapping my first presents for the season. I'm off tomorrow thru next Wednesday except for some hours doing the retail thing and have one package left to ship off. There's always such build up, preparation, planning, things to do, people to see. It lasts an evening and that prep and planning, is packed in garbage bags and put on the curb. I'm happy to see a little progression this year in the "Merry Christmas vs Happy Holiday" debate and more and more people are voicing their disgust for the politically correct agenda which forbids us from wishing our neighbors anything related to Christmas though Kwanza seems to be acceptable. Last night was Cassie's holiday band concert. Again we had a song celebrating the miracle of the oil and a song about Kwanza. When it came to Christmas, we had Frosty and Jingle Bells. That's ok. I needed a new version of each because WLIT just hasn't played those songs enough. However, I find it ironic that when we discuss Hannukah, it's totally OK to mention God and the miracle of the oil but in the case of Christmas, it's taboo to mention Jesus. Santa Claus and Reindeer are OK. I've noticed that this year, there is a kind of a gloom over the neighborhood. Last year, just about everyone had lights. This year, the neighborhood is pretty dark. I don't know if this past year has been a year of economic hardship for most people or if the majority of Hanover Park is just not feeling festive. My dad wasn't big on outside decorations and we usually had some lights outlining one picture window or some garland over the garage until he started making Joe do it. On Christmas Eve, he did put out luminaria as did most of the neighborhood. It looked pretty cool actually. I haven't seen anyone decorate with luminaria since my childhood. My outside actually has my usual display of white lights, garland and some deer in the yard and is very basic. One house has just about every Christmas balloon on their lawn from the Spongebob to the Grinch. I frankly don't see what Spongebob has to do with Christmas. As for the Grinch, I have one of those in my life 365 days a year. Who needs one on my lawn? Other than two houses down the block and our across the street neighbors, no one put lights out this side of the lane. I'd like to spend an evening putting a hole in the stupid balloons. Nothing says happy holidays like an oversized penguin!

Thus concludes my rendition today of, "I really had nothing to talk about"

Tonight, Kris has his band concert. Other than the Labor Day parade, I have not seen his band perform at all so I am looking forward to it.