Is It That Time Already?

November 16th and our Christmas tree is up already. Sandy decorated it Saturday; our time is going to be limited over the next several weeks, and as plans to go away this weekend changed this was the best time to do it.

Christmas in Canada seems more of a big deal than it is in the US. For my friends in the States (hey all you crazy Americans!) this would be the equivalent of your Thanksgiving. To elaborate, Thanksgiving in Canada is somewhat understated; one of the biggest things we're thankful for at this time of year is that we're not up to our asses in snow yet.

As appears to be the case every year there didn't seem to be enough lights for the tree. Or the right kind. Why this happens I'm not entirely sure; it's as if something comes along during the year and hides or replaces everything. In reality it's just that our tastes seem to change somewhat from year to year. So it was off to the store.

Man there's some cheesy crap out there. Most of it manufactured by companies and people who quite obviously haven't been exposed to Christmas in North America. Unfortunately, most of it is bought by North Americans who seem not to have been exposed to it either. Or have forgotten that a white tree covered entirely with fuscia decorations doesn't exactly scream Ho-Ho-Ho. More like a Ho-Ho-whole lotta tacky. Oh well, to each their own I guess. We try to decorate tastefully, as an example the picture at top is something we do each year (Sandy put it together).

So yesterday we were cleaning up leaves on the front lawn and putting lights in the shrubs. It won't be too long I suppose before the snow comes, I'm really not looking forward to it. However weather-permitting we'll be making the trip up North to visit Sandy's sister and her family for Christmas. It'll be the first time since we've been together (seventeen years) that we'll be celebrating Christmas with kids. Should be interesting. I'm not looking forward to making the trip itself, but once we're there it should be enjoyable. A couple pics from the weekend:

Why rake the lawn when you can rake the tree?

Sandy doing the Christmas lights (she has way more patience with this stuff than I do)