Well Thanksgiving is over so now it's time to get the decorations out in preparation for Christmas. This is a true story i Wrote after finding my box of Homemade Macaroni Angels in a state of distress. i Wish good fortune to You and your Loved ones all the year round. 
Dave made a couple of Christmas signs years ago. Never seen any like them before or afterwards.
One has to understand Dave had a weird sense of humor.
One sign had a design of sheep on it and it said Fleece Navidad!
The other sign had 5 Christmas balls hanging down and all it said was "Balls".
Both signs have disappeared. Wish I could find them. Have a feeling they were "lifted" from the front porch by someone who thought they were cute.
Police navidad!
"Police in Sydney, Australia chase suspect while wearing Santa hats"
Mike of square banjo fame says this could be a wasp nest, but I haven’t seen an WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant around here for a while…..
Christmas preparations have to wait for enother 10 days or so over here...
First we'll be having our Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) eve on Dec. 5th., a traditon going back to the end of the Middle Ages.
It's a true family fest with goodies and presents for everyone.
The goodies include: speculaas (a Dutch tye of hard ginger bread), marsepein (marzipan?) and of course, 7-8" tall chocoladeletters (for everyone their name's first letter) Looking forward to a big, brown B....
Further the small presents are sometimes wrapped in in a disguise (dutch: surprise) and accompanied by mock poems, that the receiver has to read out loud before opening their present. It's always a hoot, making something -tongue in cheek- appropriate.
You'll find it all described here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas
Take a read and you'll find the explanation of presents at Christmas. (Look for 16th and 17th century)
To me, Christmas is the thousands of years old celebration of winter solstice, the returing of the light. Hence the ever green tree with it's lights...
I have a fig tree in the living room. Maybe 8' wide and 6' tall with Christmas ornaments.
I bought new lights a year or two ago, guess I'd better get them up.
Find them. Maybe they got as far as the dining room.
For green Christmas trees, the 3 x 50' spruce out front will just have to do.
The branches swing so hard in the wind (blizzard front tonight) breaks any lights.
...time to look for decorations??
For a couple of weeks I hope it's with v-e-r-y limited success. ... signed A. Scrooge.
But, but, but, I favo(u)r leaving them up until after the Julian/Orthodox/?? Christmas.... signed Mr. Owen.
Grow a live tree in a big bucket in the corner of your living room. Decorate it. Done.
Dug out the three artificial Christmas trees from past post-Christmas sales at Wally world. The grandkids always choose the white pre-lit tree. Also dug out the box of decorations. Besides the tons of Hallmark ornaments I have collected over the years that usually remain boxed up, I'll mostly just use the leftover Happy Meal toys that have an eyehook added for a hanger. Lots of memories in those toys over the years. Not saying I'm cheap, but filled with "tradition", as cheapskate grandpa uses an old fake tree and homemade repurposed McDonald toy ornaments. There ya go.
The decorating half of the family drug out the 2 or 3 tubs of Christmas decorations over the weekend. My dad's 100-yr old sled is decorating the front porch along with other tschakes. All four nativity scenes are out and the seasonal tablecloth and napkins on the dining room table. Christmas books are spread on the coffee table and the little blue-lighted grapevine tree is in the window here in my den/playroom, topped by the tinfoil star our son made in preschool in 1976. The small artifical tree that holds the various ornaments is yet to be brought up from the basement. The ornaments are those collected over the past 54 years of our marriage. She'll spend a morning getting those placed on the tree.
