Yule Lights '07

The number of houses decorated with Christmas lights has gone from a scattering in late November -- isn't it bad enough that merchants push the Christmas season too early? -- to about half of the eventual number of lighted houses as of today, I estimate. The prospect of a snowstorm last weekend probably got a lot of people out to decorate ahead of it, which I suppose is rational enough.

Ours isn't one of the decorated ones, but the lights are already on the bush outside. They've been there, unlit and hard to see, since last year -- all I have to do is connect them to via an outdoor-rated extension cord to the exterior outlet.

Not yet. I figure I'll attempt a re-light this weekend, which is about two weeks ahead of Christmas. Lilly is agitating for more strings of lights ("One bush isn't enough, Daddy," to quote her exactly), but so far I've dodged the issue by telling her that too many Chinese-made lights next to the house will cause an explosion or emit toxic fumes or something. She doesn't remotely believe that.

Ann asks just about every day when Christmas will arrive, and I say not yet. Avoiding that kind of questioning from near-five-year-olds is another reason not to front-load Christmas. I'd rather have the holiday -- an important one, after all-- build up for a week and then deflate for a week, edging into New Year's, rather than build up for a month (or more) and deflate on the afternoon of December 25.