Saturday, November 24, 2007

Christmas already

I suppose it should have been no surprise to see Christmas decorations up outside people's houses last weekend (before Thanksgiving) given that I had seen them in the stores in the middle of October. The Little Americans in our household were heard muttering in disgust yesterday that it was still far too early for Christmas decorations to be up because it's still "a long time" until Christmas. It might seem like a long time to them, but actually doesn't seem that far off to me. The year just seems to accelerate from the middle of October. I barely have time to turn around, take a few breaths, and figure out where the Christmas presents are that I've been buying all year and hiding around the house, when suddenly the day is upon us and, despite all my good intentions, I still end up till the wee hours on Christmas Eve wrapping presents.

We'll get our tree in a couple of weeks. As we always have a real one, (usually from my father-in-law's backyard), we don't like to get it too early. The lights will go up on the outside of our house the same weekend. I realized as I was looking at our electricity bills for the Riot for Austerity that the lights make a significant difference to the electricity bill, so much as I like them, until we finally invest in some LED lights, I will be trying to minimize the number of days we have them on.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe its the tradition to put them all up during / after the thanksgiving weekend which certainly appears to be true in my neighbourhood.

That's part of what I like[d] being out here as at home we'd receive our first Christmas catalogue in June, whereas here, after Thanksgiving seems to be the rule.
Cheers

Anonymous said...

Christmas decs are fab! They rule!!

I can't wait to put mine up. I usually do it around my birthday which is the 13th.

By the way, read your comment on Stinking Billy's blog. I shouldn't worry about leaving comments on anyones blogs, esp mine! I love getting comments, the more the merrier, it shows that people are reading my blog. Even it the blog as 30 or 40 comments, your will still count, you are just as important as anyone else.

See you soon, Crystal xx

Stinking Billy said...

I don't know whether you will be pleased or disappointed about this, but I accidentally missed out my last two 'links', yourself and Tina, when I changed my story "The class of 2007" into a 'Play'.

Mrs Billy and I got an e-mail from Indianapolis this morning, telling us all about their annual visit to other realtions further south in Indiana. We were with them last year and had a wonderful time.

Thanksgiving is not, of course, generally celebrated in the Uk as I'm sure you will remember. Anyway, nice reading your posts.

menopausaloldbag (MOB) said...

Christmas - too exciting for me! I love it and Christmas Eve is the best night of the year.

I'm Scottish and live in England but I worked for an American IT manufacturer for 25 years and was based in the USA on and off quite a lot over that timeframe. I loved the people that I made friends with and still keep in touch. It is a nice place to live.

I liked your comments on Stinking Billy's blog about comments. I agree with what you said about putting comments on the blogs of those that have been offered a book deal. I did a few on WITN's but I felt sort of grubby afterwards as though I was hanging off the coat tails of success - a sort of bottom feeder really. I like her page but I don't comment any more because of how I feel about it. Does that sound daft to you?

Almost American said...

Yes, most people around here do put Christmas stuff up the weekend after T'giving. We're just a little slow - the tree and decorations will go up some time around the 15th this year, like Crystal's.

Maddy - the first Christmas catalog arrives AFTER Thanksgiving at your house! Wow!

Billy - sorry to hear I might have been included in your play. Ah well, another time!

MOB - I like your description of commenting chez people like WITN: "hanging off the coat tails of success - a sort of bottom feeder really". That definitely sums it up for me. Still, I think Sablonneuse found her way here from a comment I posted on Petite's blog, and then I found the rest of you from there, so I'll revise my opinion and say that comments on popular blogs are definitely A Good Thing!

Anonymous said...

TRUE Riot For Austerity X-Mas lights...

Target has SOLAR POWERED LED X-Mas lights!

Almost American said...

Solar powered LEDs? So did you order any? Or are they likely to be as useless as the solar-powered lights we had along the front walkway? (And why am I asking you this online when I could ask you in person?)

Anonymous said...

Perhaps because you're addicted to blogging? :-D

I thought I was just leaving an appropriate comment on your blog!

(I will know you are addicted to either your computer or your blogging when I have to IM or eMail you to come to dinner...)

menopausaloldbag (MOB) said...

I agree with you about finding new people by commenting on popular blogs - after all that's how I have built up a library of fantastic blogs to read. Much better that I can choose who I read rather than some editor on a magazine or newspaper controlling what and how I am told something.

But I am as guilty as the next peson for dashing onto the sytstem and seeking out WITN from a Times article - actually about two months later when I plucked up the courage - and leaving a comment that her success had inspired me to take a chance and write a blog. I left a few comments on there after that about the contents or relevance of a post but I stopped because as I said I felt like a massive hanger on.

I am sure she is no worse off for my lack of feedback and I don't wish to single her out but she is probably one of the most famous examples where her success has generated a frenzy of people commenting on her blog.

Perhaps I am being too harsh on all of those those that comment for I am sure that a few loyal readers from before her fame have stuck with her and a few others have come to love her writing because she writes exceptionally well and deserves her success. So I still read but I don't comment and that way I can salve my conscience at vicariously hanging on the coat tails of success!

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