Christmas means The Hawg is put to work

My wife, Marci, just loves decorating the fool out of the house for Christmas.

That means a couple of things. First of all, the first weekend after Thanksgiving is spent decorating. Second, the kids (12-year-old Michael and 7-year-old Brenda SueCarol) and I wind up doing a lot of work.

We pretty much spent the entire day following Marci's order and I've got to say the house looks pretty great. We've been married long enough at this point to have accumulated quite a few Christmas ornaments.

This year, then, we put up three Christmas trees. threw a garland on the mantle, put those blue, hanging icicle light thingies on the front of the house. It was a busy day, indeed, but Marci is happy and that just makes life easier around here. So why not?

My day started at 9:30 a.m. when Marci got my out of bed (I may have gotten up on my own, but I can't remember -- I have trouble recalling how I get out of bed in the morning as I'm usually in a haze). I had a little breakfast, took a shower, got dressed and then headed up to the attic.

We've got one of those wooden, folding ladders leading up to the attic and I'm amazed every year when I don't fall off of it while hauling down trees, the ornaments that go on them and everything else that's stored up there. I only smashed my finger once this year. That's pretty good.

I then headed outside to put up the hanging icicle light thingies. We did that for the first time last year and it was a chore as I had to screw a bunch of hooks into the awnings to hold the lights. Naturally, those were already in place so all I had to do was hang the lights.

That was easy enough until I realized that I put the lights on backward and wouldn't be able to plug them into the outlet in the garage. I cussed, threw a couple of things, went inside, got some water, cussed some more and headed back outside. My neighbor across the street asked me if I needed a ladder to reach the hooks easier.

I told her I had a ladder, but I was too tall and too stubborn to use it. The job got a lot easier after I pulled the ladder out of the garage.

We always wind up forgetting something and have to go to the store on the day we put up Christmas decorations. This year, we only had to go to the store twice for supplies this year. That's a record. The fact we had enough hooks for ornaments this year is a first, too.

Another first for us is a train I bought back in October to go around the base of one of our trees. That's a nifty addition and I'm proud that my son put an Army man on it.

Why? My little brother and I used to hide Army men in our Christmas trees when we were growing up, so I'm glad to see that tradition continue.

In the end, we got the house decorated and can enjoy the season. What's even better is the fact that most of our Christmas shopping is already done, so there will be no last minute rushing and stewing over finances (a common condition back years ago when my wife and I were struggling financially).

It appears that we'll have a great Christmas season and I hope the same is true of you folks. Thank goodness for trees that come with the lights already installed. That's the only way to go.