The three months of Christmas

We set up Christmas in November. It was a record for us. We knew that the little was coming, so she became our excuse. Nearly every other year of my life since I was 14, I have been the family scrooge. Most recently, Christmas has reminded me of finals, grading, grades, term papers, and deadlines. This semester with my busy schedule I thought that it would be worse. It turns out that Christmas couldn't last long enough. We took the decorations down in mid January. We spent the entire break at home. My sister and family had us up for dinner and there were things to do, but mostly we just stayed home. Our house was lit by our tree every night - from the day we set it up until the minute we took it down. I would come home from my wintersession class to a nicely lit living room and just enjoy it. We actually thought about taking the decorations off and just leaving it as our requisite houseplant (fake greenery). It became slightly embarrassing, so we caved to peer pressure. That and the fact that it never felt like Christmas outside. I think that I had to wear pants a couple of times, but living in shorts year round makes it difficult to believe it is Christmas time.