'Tis the season

It was a gloomy, gray, initially foggy day today. Damp, unpleasant, but pretty dang warm--almost 60 degrees.

I did a little shopping this afternoon (not for Christmas presents, though) and as I drove home, I saw three different people putting out their Christmas lights.

For probably the last five years, our Christmas lights have been put out, either by me or by Greg, in a cold wind (with freezing hands trying to bend stiff wiring) because we waited too long into December.

It's obligatory in our neighborhood to do something Christmas-light-wise. We normally do the minimum of something on the railings of our porch and decline to compete with the obsessive people on every other block.

But today I decided, OK, we don't have to turn the lights on yet (since it's still November), but hey, I'm going to put out the Christmas lights.

And the kind of Christmas lights I like, not the ones we've been doing the last few years that Greg likes--he likes big, globby glass bulbs like we used to have on our Christmas trees 30 years ago.

So Allie and I went outside with little white lights and did part of the porch railing. Then we came in and got some little multi-colored lights and added those too. Both light strands are programmable, so they flash and sparkle and travel like crazy.

I was informed by Allie that the lights look awesomely cool and I think they look great. Much flashier than normal, with minimal work and in warm weather. As Jaime Oliver, the Naked Chef, would say, Easy peasy.

Except that Greg hates them. He thinks we threw them up in a mess and he doesn't like the small lights. I think Greg is a scrooge. He should be grateful he isn't going to be outside freezing his ass off in three weeks.

I'm full of righteous indignation. If I knew how to do it, I'd post a picture and take votes on how people think our lights look. Will my husband take up this challenge?