Ho Ho Ho

Let the holidays begin! What? No holiday spirit? No merry ho ho ho on your lips? Sick of the Christmas decorations that have been around since Halloween, mingling Santas with Satan? Feel like ripping the fake beard off a mall Santa when a brand-new, exquisitely mangled version of "Silver Bells" permeates the candy-cane scented air? Fighting with the button on your jeans from just one too many Christmas cookies, chocolate covered cherries and spiked peppermint hot chocolates?

Me too.

I like the holidays. I hate the extended version of the holidays, and every year, the extension gets extended. I kid you not when I tell you I saw a plastic Santa sharing holiday quips with a crimson satin Satan costume. Something about that just isn't right.

Ready to be jealous? I'm done shopping. Yup. Done. Kaput. Fini. And it only took one miserable trip to the mall. Thank goodness for downtown shopping within walking distance from work and quaint little shops with all the neat-o crap you just can't find anywhere else. Yup. I'm good.

But you know what will make my holiday season the best? Visitors. Three of them, with the first one arriving tonight from the Fruit and Nut State. The next two arrive Wednesday from the State of Everlasting Gray Skies. All to spend their holiday with US! Excitement and frenzied house cleaning somehow go hand in hand. With me, the frenzied house cleaning makes counting down the days easier to do, especially when I have excitement dripping from every pore.

Maybe we can bake cookies and string popcorn for the birds while sipping spiked hot chocolates and gabbing about nothing and everything.

I almost hope it snows.

NOT!