"I WILL GET IT..."

It is March...the snow is melting, the days are longer, and the temperature is slowly rising!  I love looking out the windows and seeing the signs of spring...buds on the trees, tulips pushing through the ground and...

Yes, we still have Christmas lights on our trees.  You are probably asking yourself why we would still have our trees wrapped with little lights of Christmas joy...

Let me tell you all a little story...

I have never put up a Christmas tree twice in the same home since meeting my husband fourteen years ago.  This year is the first time we are living in the same home for the last two seasons.  I was finally going to break the Christmas tree streak!  However, if you remember this post, you will know that my husband and I spent our Christmas apart this year.  I took the children to my parent's house, and my husband stayed behind.  It made no sense to decorate a house that would be empty on Christmas day.

When I told my husband I was skipping the Christmas decorations, he acted as though I was actually suggesting we call the North Pole and cancel the entire Christmas holiday for everyone!  I told him that the process of decorating was just too much for me this year:

• Go to our storage unit and get decorations
• Bring boxes from car into the house
• Put our Christmas tree up and decorate the house

• Leave for my parent's house (December 15) via airplane with two children and five suitcases (all of which I packed) and travel without any help.
• Return from trip (January 4), bring in and unpack suitcases...Wash, fold and put away all laundry.
• Need to take Christmas decorations down...

• Pack up decorations and tree
• Bring boxes out to the car
• Return items to our storage unit.

Did I mention my husband left town on the 12th of December and didn't return until the 20th of January?  So of course the removal of all things red, green and tinsel would have been done by me and just me!

I don't recall exactly what made my husband agree that putting up our Christmas decorations was a bad idea...

But somehow we came to the agreement that we would just put some lights on our trees outside.  We fought worked together one evening in the dark and wrapped lights around our two trees in the front yard.  I even put garland and lights on our porch banister...the house was soon festive, and we had saved Christmas of 2010.  

Since my husband would be home from the 26th through the 30th of December, he promised he would take down the lights before his big road trip...then I would not have to worry about them when I returned.  Have I mentioned what a great procrastinator husband I had married?

I returned home from my trip, and the lights were still on the tree...

I refused to take the lights down on principle...if I did it, my husband would never realize that he needed to take responsibility for his non-actions!  So I waited...and I waited...and as I waited I read a book...

and then I waited some more....

I caved and took the garland down on February 27th....but I still refuse to take down the lights on the trees!  Funny because I think my husband is refusing to take them down now too....so we now have a Christmas light stand-off going on!

Have you seen this?  Welcome to my world!

So next time you drive by a house that still has their Christmas decorations up in March, do not make a snide comment under your breath!  Because, inside that home is a husband who promised his wife that he would take down the decorations in December and the wife has not removed them out of principle.

I can let you in on another secret!  Not only is there forgotten lawn ornamentation, but you can also be sure that somewhere inside the home is a basket of clean laundry that has been sitting there, waiting for someone to realize it needs to be put away...

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