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There’s Glitter on the Dog and We’re Running Out of Batteries
The holiday season has arrived
I don’t do Black Friday
I know there are people — some of them my friends — who relish the ritual of awakening early on the day after Thanksgiving to gird themselves for retail battle. They brave the mired parking lots, aren’t put off by the fevered hordes competing for bargains on everything from smart televisions to smart socks, and willingly endure the soulless countenances of the store employees who were forced to rise like zombies from their turkey-induced comas to man the checkout lines.
Not me. I am not immune to the collective frenzy that erupts at the end of November, but I’ve chosen a different method of expressing it. On the day after Thanksgiving, barring out-of-town travel or ill health, I decorate the house.
Mind you, the house at this point is already decorated, but for fall. Autumn is my favorite season, but the moment the leftovers have been stowed in the fridge, I’m over it. Out with the pumpkins and gourds! In with the sparkly stuff!
It was simpler in the olden days
When I was a kid, sometime prior to the Punic Wars, holiday decorating was far more restrained. At least it was in my neighborhood, where…