Christmas Decorations

Every year, my bride decorates the house for Christmas. She doesn't do it alone, but it is done with minimal help from me. You see when it come to cluttering every flat surface of our home with decorations, I am a scrooge. I would be thrilled if all we did was pull the trash sack off of last year's 4' predecorated tree and plug it in. It would also be okay with me if that was done on December 23rd and we put the sack back on and move the tree to storage on Christmas evening. The clutteredness not only affects me. Terri is also annoyed by it. So we have already taken down our large inside tree and returned it to the basement. It was only up a couple of days.

Usually, Terri recruits our grand kids to help with the decorating. They eagerly agree, so I see my scrooginess as just another way I can make Christmas more special for them. I am a swell guy. This year we started with 5 trees, 2 on the front porch, with 1 large and 2 small ones inside. Even more annoying, we have about 5 decorations that make noise - a snowman playing the piano, a musical miniature Christmas Tree, a couple of mechanical reindeer, and a teddy bear. I may have missed a couple others. The grand kids take great pleasure in a game they play where they see how many of these devices they can keep active at once. Oh well, they are my grand kids so I will endure it.

We have never decorated the outside of our house with lights even though we both enjoy seeing what other people do to theirs. There is one decorated home in the Kansas City area we visit as often as we can. Many of you have also seen or heard about it. You can see pictures here. Each year, tens of thousands of locals make their way to this guy's home, line the street with parked cars and wander his front yard in complete amazement of his display. The city assists by turning his street into a one-way street during the season. Even so, he has always had complaints from his neighbors over the 44 year history of the display.

This year, the problems have increased. The KC Confidential web site has reported that one Iranian neighbor is complaining nightly about the traffic and the crowds. One recent night he confronted the crowds assembled in the decorated front yard demanding payment for his inconvenience. This guy makes my scroogy nature look tame, and for that I thank him. The battle has moved to City Hall, where I am sure a solution that allows the tradition to continue will be reached. If you find the time this year to visit the home at 7611 Falmouth, don't forget to look for an Iranian guy and wish him a Merry Christmas.