Look what I found in my neighborhood.

I'm of two minds about Christmas lights. First, I'm always happy to see them because they are so beautiful. Second, I'm always happy that putting them up and taking them down is someone else's chore because it's a tremendous amount of work.

When my husband was alive, we decorated our tree and around the living room windows. After he died and my sons were still little boys, I decorated the tree and around the windows. Several years after my Daddy died, I moved back in with my Mama (widows together enjoying the life left to us), and we decorated several different trees over the years and around our windows. My sons are out on their own, decorating as their lives lead them. Now I'm on my own, too. I have a little Department 56 tree, the sweetest item I've ever been fortunate enough to purchase at Goodwill, and a string of lights glowing on the cabinet top around it. Merry Christmas decorating, ol' 64-year-old-me style.