The holidays seem to come with a requirement that we decorate our homes. On patriotic holidays we limit ourselves to a flag, but some occasions call for huge displays of dedication and the willingness to empty one’s savings account.
The two biggest decorating holidays appear to be Halloween and Christmas, with Easter and Valentine’s Day running neck and neck for third place. The home improvement and hardware stores, along with big retailers, set up humongous inflatables relevant to the time of year from which you can choose, such as giant stacks of hearts, or towering rabbits in pastel colors, or even Grim Reapers which could dwarf a basketball player..
Christmas offers a staggering variety of things with which to colorfully show off your patronage of commercialism. Even though assembling a set of toy trains seems to have gone out of style, department stores offer miniature villages with themes from popular movies and television shows which you can arrange on a flat surface or under your tree.
My issue is always with the populations of these mini villages: they’re disproportionately bigger than the doorways to the buildings. This is probably due to the consumer protections in place to lessen the chance of having the small figure of a package laden shopping lady become a snack for an undiscerning toddler, but then I would make the buildings bigger, not the people. Anybody who has ever knocked their noggin on a door jamb will agree with me on this.
I have done it, and I’m not a seven-foot basketball player.
One of the annual retail collections involve a group of carolers with their mouths in perfect “O” formation; even the dogs and cats. I have to avoid them when I shop, because they make me yawn. So much for perking up my holiday spirit.
If you don’t do village scenery, you can decorate with garland and candles and themed table covers. Everything can be red and green, or blue and white, or black, red and green, or you can even go with a Diwali rainbow of everything.
Your tree, on the other hand, can be themed for just about anything you can imagine, from a favorite movie to a favorite animal, singer, or even collectible products. The number of ornaments available for today’s trees is mind-boggling, and this is for after you string lights in computer-timed patterns not just on the tree, but all over your siding, garage and lawn. Families vie on a popular network program for a trophy and bragging rights if they have the most electrified house and biggest power company bill. I’ve yet to see if solar panels help lessen this seasonal expense.
So what am I doing this year? I haven’t decided. I do have one of the classic Charlie Brown trees reminiscent of the annual special, with clumps of fir needles and a single red ornament. It looks nice on my table and is simple to assemble.
Plus I don’t wind up yawning when I’m finished.
Whatever you choose to put up for the holidays, just remember to keep the boxes, keep the valuable things out of the reach of the undiscerning toddlers (and pets), and keep the decorations up until at least January 6.
Or when the number of pine needles on the floor outnumber those on your tree.
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