Overachievers Need Not Gloat

Having committed the cardinal sin of motherhood, running out of milk, I headed off to the local 7-11 to severely over pay for liquid calcium simply to avoid the long, Thanksgiving Eve, lines at the grocery store. On my way home I found myself completely irritated by the rash of homes already brightly lit with Christmas lights. Personally, I adore the holiday season and fully recognize that we’ve all been subjected to all things Christmas in retail stores since before Halloween but this, the individual homeowner’s attempt to show others up, bothered me.

I get it. They are better than I am. They are organized and had, apparently, a great deal of free time in the last few weeks. Clearly they didn’t have Pee Wee soccer parties, work commitments, birthday parties or funerals to contend with. No, they, the “first on my block to flip the switch” family, had plenty of time to beautifully wrap each tree on their lot and precisely place each strand along their roof line. It’s irritating, really, what am I doing wrong?

At some point this holiday season our house too will be adorned with lights. They won’t be precisely hung, rather hung rapidly in an attempt to complete the task. Our trees will not be as beautifully wrapped as those I saw tonight- we’ll keep working until the kids have a complete meltdown. Extra lawn and garden decorations will not be theme coordinated, instead, we’ll allow our kids determine what of all the stuff we’ve amassed they prefer to put out this year. Yes, our house will be decorated but it will likely be mid December before that occurs and it will not be work worthy of being nominated into the Christmas Lights Hall of Fame.

I’m not taking anything from those who choose to be the first on their block to flip the switch. It’s a great accomplishment; I just wish they’d wait another couple days, say, until after Thanksgiving, to remind the rest of us how completely inadequate we are