Looks great, Matt!

I generally don't start in earnest until the first weekend in Dec. Fortunately for me, this year anyway, I left most of the lights on the bushes up front so I won't have to string those all up They're the small lights and the bushes have grown out over them so you can't see them unless they're on. I run a few strings around the front of the house and pull some up the flag pole in "tree-ish" fashion. I used to be a traditional white bulbs on the tree and outdoors and candles in the window guy until I had kids. Now we've got colored ones everywhere. We do eschew the inflatables and figures, though.

We'll go cut our tree in a few weeks and we usually pick up a wreath and some garland then. It should be interesting with an 16 mo who likes to climb everything and get his hands on stuff he's not supposed to.

It's always been my favorite time of year but it's been tough the last few years since we lost my MIL mid-Dec. four years ago so it's a little bitter-sweet.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Just got my electric bill...in it, my Co-op included a "rebate form" for $2.00/string of the new L.E.D. lights...and I didn't see a "limit" on how many strings you're restricted to. (Our Co-op buys power from Xcel and Dairyland Cooperative in our area...)

And SAM'S CLUB has white LEDs for sale for around $9.00/3-strings...I'm going WHITE this X-mas! (I love blue lights...the more, the better...PM me if you see blue LEDs out there somewhere!)

As for when to start decorating?

I've never been one to jump on the decorating bandwagon and I hate, intensely, the fact that the stores start cramming the X-mas season down our throats before Thanksgiving...but, then again, they sell shorts and Ts when the weather is calling for -30° wind-chill warnings and the like.

And, if you need a nice (cheap) winter coat in ... say ... January, can you find one?

'Nuff said...

Enjoy the holidays...however long they may last!

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
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“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

No, there weren't any decorated evergreen trees in the time of Christ. Neither was there a fat man in a red suit with his sled and flying reindeer. There weren't any stockings hung on the mantle, nor chestnuts roasting on an open fire. There certainly wasn't the pressure to buy all kinds of expensive crap that people don't need for everyone you know (the Magi only brought gifts to JC, if I remember right). There certainly weren't any icicle lights hanging off the gutters, or hideous fruitcakes either. So what should we do to celebrate? Should we all go sleep in a barn and offer newborns a tub of myrrh?

There's always someone who wants to spoil the party. If you don't believe, just accept people's good wishes in the spirit they were intended. You don't need to feel like you're being pressured to convert because Christmas hasn't been entirely about Christ for a long time now. It is largely a secular shopping exercise.

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Jonathan

2011 Mazda2
2000 E320 4Matic Wagon
1994 C280 (retired)

The grandkids come over the weekend after Thanksgiving and help me put the tree up, while we watch a Christmas themed movie on the DVD. Usually Reservoir Dogs, or Dusk to Dawn. {Just kidding}

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

The classic rock station in our fair city will be playing Arlo's ode to Thanksgiving all day Thursday, hopefully the live version as well. To this day, my kids still remember when I introduced them to the Alice's Restaurant Massacree on vinyl. A Thanksgiving tradition was born.

the tree is a sign of fertility in the pagan belief... or something like that