Early Christmas

Today I come to this post with a Cyber Declaration of sorts. Here it goes:

It's November 9th and I already have Christmas decorations up. What's more is...I am proud to say it. And once and for all I shall declare it loudly: I Decorate Early For Christmas. So take that.

For years I've hid my early-Christmas glee in the shadows, decorating only the back part of our house so that no one driving by our house could possibly spy the merry twinkle of multi-color lights coming from the family room. It was just our little (dirty) secret. No one need ever know.

But the simple fact of the matter is, come November 1st, I'm ready to give orange and black the old heave-ho, ready to unroll the holly and deck the halls.

Now I know you might be chastising me about rushing through Thanksgiving and all that, but let me tell you right up front that, in my mind, these two holidays go together perfectly. Hand in hand.

Thanksgiving is a day to celebrate our blessings; to gather with family and friends and cherish the memories we've shared in the past, while building new ones for the future. It's a day set aside to just enjoy what you have and not worry about the rest of it. For one whole day.

Here's the thing, for me that defines Christmas too. Only it's not just a day---a set of 24 hours. It's an entire Season to reflect on blessings and family and friends. A time to be grateful. Forgiving. Kind.

For all the materialism that Christmas has gathered around it throughout the years, the commercialism that vies greedily for the spotlight rather than sharing it with a silhouette of a simple manager, I still find it to be a time of being thankful.

Honestly, come All-Saints Day, I'm ready for a change in pace and attitude, aren't you? I'm ready to think candy canes and reindeer; twinkle lights and evergreens. Songs that sing of peace and love, of kindness and generosity, of hope and truth, just have a way of uniting us all amidst our differences. For this one time of the year, it seems, people are okay with the things that set us apart. It's like we can all agree to disagree and be together as mankind.

I like that.

And sometimes it seems a long trek from one December to another, doesn't it?

Maybe this is just my personal view but around our house, we're not exchanging Tom Turkey for mangers and St. Nick; they're getting along just fine together, thank you very much.

And for that I am very thankful.