What?!? No Christmas?!?

We have fooled the entire neighborhood...and probably you too if you receive a Christmas card from us (assuming the cards do eventually get sent!). The outside of our house is festively decorated for Christmas. We have lights on the roof, the bushes, and the front porch, which we put up on a rather cool day a week or so ago right before the temperatures rose into the 80s making it feel more like April than December. Hopefully with the outside lights glowing no one will ever notice we have no Christmas tree in the window. In fact, if you were to walk into our home there would not be a single trace of Christmas anywhere. Well, except for the piles of Christmas cards waiting to be addressed and stamped.

The reason for no Christmas this year is quite simple: our house is a mess what with all the remodeling. Strangely, the season seems to be lasting longer this year. That's mostly because Thanksgiving was about a week early, but we like to think we are also having more space to enjoy things like other people's Christmas parties, Christmas music, and just sitting and drinking hot cocoa. Besides the lack of decorating, we are also foregoing the endless Christmas shopping because so many of our gifts this year will be unusual (experiences rather than actual presents). Since we have family in town we're not even traveling for the holiday. When people say things like, "I haven't even gotten our Christmas cards bought yet" or "I still have so much shopping to do," Erin tends to respond with "Oh, you still have plenty of time! It's only December 10th!" OK. Now that she thinks about it, that's only 15 days until Christmas. Ignorance is bliss. And we can afford to be ignorant of the passage of time this season since we have no pressing holiday items on our to-do list.

When it first looked as if Christmas wouldn't really happen in our home, Erin was pretty stressed and disappointed. Now that the idea has taken hold, she is a little relieved. This year has been stressful enough. We can easily go to the homes of relatives or friends to experience the Christmas environment. It is a pleasant change to be able to celebrate the meaning of this holiday (Jesus' birth) in quieter more subtle ways. We tend to like simplicity, so perhaps this year's experience will lead to more toned-down celebrating in future years.

So, enjoy your Christmas cards when they get there, and feel free to drive by the house to take in the light display, just don't expect a winter wonderland if you intend to visit the inside of our home.