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Our gingerbread shed
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas exploded all over our house. And, I love it!
Each year my wife digs deeper to uncover more of her inner Clark Griswold – the Christmas-decoration-obsessed main character in National Lampoon’s Vacation series. And each year her holiday display gets a little more elaborate.
Last week a small army of nutcrackers set up post on our mantel. There are snow globes and wreaths and garland and glitter-laden sprigs of whatever sprigs come from strewn about our home. The front of the house is dripping with the obligatory icicle lights, and pink and purple candy canes line the front walk. But, she’s just getting warmed up.
She’s transformed the backyard shed into a gingerbread house featuring a very cool ply-wood Santa and reindeer made by her grandfather. She scoured the after-holiday sales last year to get just the right yard decorations – over-sized lighted packages and large ornaments in the shapes of wrapped candy to hang from the trees.
Her display has a long way to go before it rivals the Prairie Village electrician’s house (which was shut down by the city this year – boo, hiss!), but she’s still got several good decades of decoration-collecting ahead of her. Don’t be surprised if you see us on an episode of Hoarders in 2039.
The crowning touch to all of my wife’s holiday hoopla and her perfectly placed piece de resistance (and the one piece I really do resist) is something called a kissing ball. It’s a gaudy hanging thingy that looks like a bunch of leftover glass balls that were mashed up with some tinsel and hot-glued into a holiday-looking gobstopper the size of a large grapefruit. It’s supposed to make us feel romantic and compel us to kiss. I’ve learned to humor her.
I really do love her decorations – even the kitschy stuff – not only because I love to watch her get immersed in creativity, but for what it does to transform me. You see, I can be bit of a curmudgeon sometimes. For all of the kid-loving, child-like exuberance I display on the outside, I’ve been known to have a bit of “bah humbug” lurking inside. For every bit of yang, there’s got to be some yin.
My mode for years has been to keep things simple, quiet, and on the down-low. That is, I’m all for throwing a party, but let’s not get too crazy. I love a well-decorated Christmas tree, but let’s refrain from putting up lights on the house – it’s a waste of electricity. My practical side is good at hurling a few wet blankets now and then, just to keep things in check.
I’m grateful for my lovely bride and our spirited daughters who are teaching me to let go and not hold so much back. They remind me that if we’re going to do something, then let’s do it up big with full-throated enthusiasm and bold colors and reckless abandon.
There just might be a little Clark Griswold in me after all.
I don't like to do the decorating, but I love to go see the decorations that others put up-especially Chicago Street here in Blue Springs. I am a little "bah humbug-ish" too, but as I move closer to the holiday, it gets better. I just have to warm up.I, too, would love to be Clark Griswold when it comes to decorating. I think the inside of our house usually comes close to the overblown Christmas decor, but the outside is different. I just don't have time to put lights up all over, although we do have a couple of inflatables and a lighted garland around the door. If I had my way, though, my hubby would be out there stringing lights on anything that didn't move. I hear the weather will be warm this weekend - time to get our outside decorations up and maybe add to the collection!
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