The hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny &#$*@&% Kaye

Bethany: Is your house on fire, Clark?
Clark: No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights.

All of the above is from the Holiday classic Christmas Vacation. Not only does it nail a lot of the goofy holiday things people do, it also has a lengthy scene involving a squirrel, and well, you know how I feel about squirrel(s).

I felt like the main character, Clark Griswold on Thanksgiving. I was stringing holiday lights for the first time in my adult life. I'm not very good at such things. There's also the fact that in the past I've not been a big fan of putting out our holiday lights. See, Our block does luminaires. You're not forced to put them out, but you know how it is, short of being Jewish or a Hindu, everyone expects you to put them up - Merry Merry. I usually put them up - begrudgingly, feeling forced to do anything is a major pet peeve of mine. I was further irked by the fact that around our Casa, the East end of the 800 block for those keeping score at home, that most of our neighbors didn't do it. To my left (that would be West) the neighbors are Jewish. Can't very well expect them to deck the halls. To my right (that would be East) Magaret is a senior citizen, and doesn't do the lights. She usually goes on a cruise over the Holidays. Across the street, it was the same, older neighbors who didn't feel very merry, and or weren't up to the task of stringing a bunch of luminaires (which is a bigger pain in the ass than you might think.)

This year all of that changed for me. We have a lot of young blood on the East end of our block, who now do lights, but more importantly, Ethan was excited about Christmas, and well, that energized me. Add in the Little Warrior, and I felt like the before mentioned Clark Griswold, stringing lights, your basic dork, and quite inept Dad, with his heart in the right place.

My first time at stringing lights (on the house) was pretty smooth (for me.) I only had to go to Wal-Mart three times to get what I actually needed to do the job. I didn't fall off the ladder. The lights actually WORKED. Same dealio for the Luminaires. I was pretty dang dog successful. Had a nice time doing it too, which I think is the point. Ethan helped me (for as long as a nearly three year old can help) and then played cars/trucks in the front yard while I worked my way around the front of our house on the ladder stringing the lights. Ethan would occassionally interupt by saying: "be careful daddy." Cart and the Little Warrior came out front from time to time to visit and enjoy the lovely, sunny, yet crisp Thanksgiving day. It was a Hallmark moment if there ever was one, and sitting around the Thanksgiving dinner (for about a second before the Little Warrior decided he didn't want to be there) that night, I was thankful for the day, and Team Tinsley. I was also thankful that the lights WORKED! By golly, you cruise by Team Tinsley's this Season you're going to need to be Cory Hart, Wearing your sunglasses at night for those not versed in 80s music trivia. My mind is so full of useless info.

The day after Thanksgiving, and my own thoughts about how I was Clark Griwold...one of our new blood neighbors told me that he felt like Clark Griswold. How is that for a big old serving of sychronicity! Why did he feel like Clark Griswold? Bringing home the family tree which was tied to the top of their family roadster, he attempted to pull into his garage...and well, he didn't have the clearance, clarence. Classic.

Good to know that I'm not the only dipshit on the 800 block of Westwood Drive.

Until I BLOG again...Merry Merry.