The joys of Christmas

Ho, ho, ho! It is nearly time for the fat man in the red suit to visit housetops and chimneys and avoid barking dogs and stale cookies and milk. Seems like it was just a few weeks ago when I was taking down our decorations and last year’s Christmas tree, and now I am starting all over again.

Incidentally, my wife and I are two of the older residents of the new housing development where we live. We are discovering that the other people in the area — young couples with children — have a different timetable than we are used to for holidays. Huge, elaborate and spooky yard displays went up on the first of October — why wait until just before Halloween? Thanksgiving didn’t even have a chance. Christmas decorations for most of the houses went up just a day or two after Halloween! Christmas lights on homes in early November? Not for this house!

Decorations have risen to a new level today. Some neighbors have paid several hundred dollars to have a business secure lights all over the rooflines of their home — and those lights stay up all year.  Some can be changed in color(s) to reflect whatever “holiday” that household would like to highlight!

Also, one house not far from where we live has so many house lights and lighted yard decorations, one can almost hear their electric meter spin from the street! There’s Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, elves and — so that they aren’t thought of as totally against religion — a Nativity scene, complete with Joseph, Mary, Jesus, angels, donkeys and at least one ugly camel nearby.

In fact, the National Retail Federation reported that American consumers spent $729 billion for 2019 decorations — not sure what 2020 or 2021 reports will show.

I blame our country’s incessant commercialism. Walmart and Michael’s and other similar stores had Christmas decorations, lights, cards and more on their aisles back in July — right after they took down the flags and other items that represent our country’s birthday. There’s nothing more puzzling than to be in Texas in 100-degree heat in July and see Christmas decorations for sale in stores.

I have been reflecting on my Holyoke Christmases when I was growing up. If we had snow (and we usually didn’t), a simple snowman was constructed on the lawn. Today, one can have compressor-powered blowup snowmen (and snowwomen?) all over one’s yard, even if there is no snow. One house not far from us has a plastic, air-filled German Nutcracker soldier on the lawn that stands as high as the top of the house. Lighted, it can be seen for blocks.

At the rare snowy times around the Christmas season, I remember my dad hooking up the lid of a round washing machine to the car with a long rope. He would pull my sister and me behind the car, often flinging us off as he drove in circles — sometimes at the golf course. (By the way, this was long before the course had real greens and grass, so the prairie fairways didn’t get damaged. Since that was over 60 years ago and my dad has passed on, I suspect the statute of limitations for car “snowboarding” on the course has expired.)

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