Hey, Honey... Let's Decorate This Year!

The Universe spins and life carries on.

The Godmother is home again, pumped full of antibiotics and morphine, held off on her chemo for a bit, however, she's on the mend again, and sends everyone her thanks for prayers and good thoughts. She's been told that four to five weeks recovery means four to five weeks recovery... stay in bed and rest. She'll listen this time.... I hope.

I flew home on Thursday last, took the airtrain to the A to Nassau to the 2 to Chambers to the 1 to the Ferry to blah blah... meaning I arrived at JFK at 6.30 and shut my front door at 11P.

Gotta love New York.

I'd considered a car, however, my usual car service advised against using them... there was at least 2 inches of snow on the ground, grinding all of New York to a halt. They said I'd be better off using the train rather than taking a car. meh. They were canceling flights out of JFK when we landed, putting one poor couple I met into LGA the next morning... they asked if I knew of a hotel in the Bronx... I suggested they just sleep at LGA.

I unpacked, repacked, opened mail, re-inflated the Titanic to sleep one night in my flat, and set out the next day for the WeatherGuy's house... it's easier to get to JFK from there, especially since I'd be leaving at 5AM on Sunday.

Little did I know another weather front would be arriving early Sunday morning...

Before then, we had errands... and he gave me a special treat;

We drove around and looked at holiday decorations.

I am not one to decorate for the holidays anymore. I used to do the garlands inside and put up a tree when the FMDKids were at home. I give them an ornament every year with their name on it, it's a tradition. I made stockings for them, and we hung them by the chimney with care.

It wasn't about Santa, it was about keeping them occupied for an extra hour to give the Ex and I some more sleep when we'd been up all night wrapping gifts and putting together bikes with no instructions... It made sense.

I put out a Nativity set every year, following the Catholic tradition of hiding the baby Jesus... he wasn't born yet, was he? He made his appearance on Christmas morning, along with the gifts... no presents were ever under our tree until Christmas morning, either.

One year, I misplaced Baby Jesus. I searched high and low... I had no idea where I'd hidden him. What was I going to do? You can't have the Wise Guys bringing stuff to an empty manger? There were no milk cartons to advertise a stolen Jesus.... no Amber Alerts.... I was stumped.

Then, I remembered Polly Pocket.

Our manger was complete on Christmas morning... Mary, Joseph, the shepards, the Wise Guys, the donkey, the camels, the Angel... everyone stood around and admired Polly Pocket lying there in the straw filled cradle.

Hey, it worked. She fit perfectly...

Now, I do nothing... but, I'm a sucker for bad holiday decorations. This means I adore one neighbor in my new neighborhood who has filled her front yard since early October, starting with Halloween moving into Thanksgiving, and currently, we have a plethora of Christmas decorations.... she has everything from moving vampires to the blow up snowglobes. Even the house is outlined in lights to match the season. I anticipate Kwanzaa, St Patrick's Day and Easter with an excitement bordering on heart tripping joy.

I walk past, wondering if her basement is set up with bins and closets marked for each holiday, how much her electric bill is, and if her sofas are covered with plastic.

Somehow, I know they are.

We piled into his car, and headed into the cold, damp air to have a look around his area... and my desire to be properly overwhelmed by bad taste was filled.

There was the palm tree all lit up... the yard so filled with a cornucopia of non matching decorations, there was no room for grass. Houses that had so many things, you know when they flipped on the switch, the area dimmed.

We saw the house that had the cartoon characters, all with Santa hats.... sadly, Scooby Doo was only semi inflated, and his head rested on the grass. He resembled the office drunk, after too many glasses of punch.

There was the house with the wire deer, who had the lights in their heads burned out.... Santa's crew were decapitated, frightening to any child who walked past.

Some homes had absolutely no rhyme or reason to their decorating... you just had to look and say, "Well, my...." Mostly, I laughed and clapped my hands together in pure glee. We fell into pointing out the glowing light filled yards, trying to outdo each other in finding the best of the worst.

It was a wonderful hour that was even more fun than our time at the C word, which was my other treat.. he knows me well.

Blow up decorations, pretend snow globes, hanging electric icicles, mismatched lights, bobbing reindeer, Santas next to Nativity scenes (without Polly Pockets in them), candy canes, North Pole Villages, Santa and the reindeer balanced on rooftops....outrageously poor taste abounded.

I love it, each and every tacky bit of it.... it is, indeed, beginning to look a lot like Christmas.