The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Oh, here you are blog, sitting at the back of my closet. Let's get you out, for old time's sake.

Yep. Still fits.

The preceding joke, however, raised a difficult question for me. Is it "for old TIMES' sake" or "for old TIME'S sake"? Grammar mavens, do your thing!

Ah, my neighbors. I could write about them for hours. In fact, it's been so long since I've posted that I'm tempted to do a tv revamp with the blog. You know, bring it back from hiatus with a whole new cast (Saved by the Bell: The New Class) or a last ditch cute kid effort (Family Ties, The Cosby Show, etc.). But I don't think I have quite enough neighbors to fully populate the blog. Most of them are pretty fine folks, even if they are crazy Southerners.

And I certainly don't have neighbors like this guy.

Still, I was walking the dog this afternoon and noticed that one of my neighbors had done his civic duty and decked out the house with Christmas decorations. Candy cane's along the walk way, lights on the rooftop, the whole shtick. From here on out, I think this neighbor will be known as the Christmas Creep.

Don't get me wrong. As Amelia can attest, I'm a huge Christmas fan. It really is my favorite time of year, and by Thanksgiving week I'm ready to start a new mix cd (I believe the kids are calling them "playlists" now) of hipster Christmas jams. But seriously? It's November 3! It's bad enough that Target and Walmart had Christmas displays up before they'd made a dent in their Halloween decor. Now my neighborhood--where it was 80 degrees just last week--has to become a winter wonderland while kids are still chomping on Trick or Treating candy?

I say no, sir!

As a teacher, time is measured by holidays, and I can only look ahead as far as my next day off (Veteran's Day, you may be in the middle of the week, but you look so very fine). This whole Christmas roll-out is throwing off my game.