esrosedotblog

HOLIDAY CHEER DRIBBLING IN

I may be grinching it in some respects, my retirement from the annual card racket, but some things remain.

John assembled the Advent Calendar, a countdown kind of thing which has a tree and an ornament a day thing to attach on. To?

I like this because it is funny and daily. Not a big bang thing. More of a dribble of easy holiday sentiment and nostalgia.

We have always had one of these starting with the kids in my first family. Maybe I had one when I was a kid. I don't remember that.

Actually it is not much of a kids' tradition. Kids want it all, all at once. The idea of an ornament a day on a tree is too creepy. Dribbling. Like water torture.

It is perfect for the elderly because it does dribble. Draws the thing out. All at once stuff is scary to a senior. What if I fall? And so on.

Tomorrow, John will supervise a young couple who helps us out from time to time. They will be putting up the LED icicles we had up in the front clerestory windows and, in addition install the same thing on the back clerestory. I was against all this but have lost my vote when the guys volunteered to do the high work, my main argument. My only point against now is the garishness of it.

I was undone on this one when we had another couple in the hot tub with us and they went on and on about how they liked our icicles.

Their house is lighted from end to end and in the middle. Actually looking very good. "The gays" know how to do tasteful. Even tasteful garishness.

There is a guy up the street who has put in a light show. Not gay. It is cheesy and blaringly bad. One of those timed computerized things that do sequential displays. Snowflakes. To the side, Mary, Joseph and a white smear baby on cardboard. A lit "tree" shape thrown on a bush.

The lights in this complex aren't too bad really. Mostly quiet. Our icicles, at least, do not flash.

I will probably not grinch it up too much more. I don't do much of the work. Just hang an advent ornament on the tree every day. There are two ornaments a day, actually. We cycled our old ones into the new setup. One apiece. No more arguments about whose turn it is.

Labels: holidays