Christmas: Gettin’ Dundies With It

As the 25th grew closer I started to panic. Not because I hadn’t shopped yet. Remember? I was totally not off the ball this year. I was done shopping and had all my presents wrapped in newspaper by December 6th. (Aside: Even though I photographed my newspaper-clad gifts I still heard comments like, “Oh, you really wrapped your presents in newspaper? I thought you were joking” from various family members.)

Anyway, the catalyst for my panic was the fact that the holidays would soon be over. I didn’t want them to end. I wanted to keep singing the Christmas tunes on the light station; I wanted to keep eating holiday cookies; I wanted an excuse to drink every night; I wanted to keep receiving Christmas cards; I wanted to gaze at my Griswold-inspired decorations just a little longer.

But when we returned on January 1st and drove down our street I realized that 90% of our neighbors had already taken down their lights. The only houses left with decorations were ours, our neighbors across the street and the guy who puts inflatable figures in his front yard for every occasion. Even his were deflated.

I suddenly HAD to get my decorations down. Stat. And it was quite an undertaking. Apparently my theme this year was, “Covered in Christmas.” That included the half bathroom, the stairs, the kitchen. I’m pretty sure I found some Christmas décor in the laundry room. Was that grass somebody tracked in or mistletoe? I can’t be sure.

I asked Frank to take down the lights outside and he said, “But Tammy and John still have theirs up!” I said, “And don’t you think everybody is making fun of them? Do you want to be mocked like that? Let them be classified with the inflatable man down the street. We’re not going down with them!”

Yep, the spirit really stays with ya all year.

And now, to officially end the season, I give you Writinggal’s fave holiday photos. Please feel free to play music as you scroll through them. Just not a Christmas song. I might puke.