The signs advertising folks who hang Christmas lights are cropping up all over the town where I live. I suppose that people have to plan ahead by reserving such folks while they still have available date. Still, when I saw a crew already placing lights on the trunks of the trees in my neighborhood I was astonished. We haven’t even hit Halloween yet and thoughts of Christmas are spreading like a virus.

I walked through a Macy’s store last week and Christmas decorations were everywhere. I gave that retailer the benefit of the doubt because it will be the one hundredth anniversary of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and I suppose that they are anxious to spread to word. I know it will be a very special celebration for all of New York City. I certainly plan to watch the annual gala. I have not missed watching it for as long as I can remember. This year one of our hometown high school bands will be marching in the parade and I know some of the kids who will be performing with them. They have been planing and practicing for over a year so it will be fun to see them enjoying a very special moment.

I am a collector of Christmas ornaments. I have so many that I have to use multiple trees each year. I have a travel tree that hold the decorations that I purchase everywhere that I visit. I have a tree that holds special yearly ornaments that I buy each year.  One tree is donned with Hallmark ornaments and another holds ornaments from friends and members of the family. I even have a tree that is dedicated to pigs which are supposed to be lucky as long as I honor them each year. My most recent tree holds only ornaments from England. So of course I have to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Macy’s parade with a special ornament that is waiting in my china cabinet until I begin my decorating at the end of November.

I had a friend who is sadly no longer with used to set out her Christmas trees very early and then keep them until after Valentine’s Day. She believed that it was too much work decorate a tree for only a few weeks. Christmas was a state of mind, not a date, in her belief. To each his own I always say but I can’t deal with having Christmas for several months. I usually take things down no later than January seventh. I use the Three Kings holiday of January 6 as my last day of the Christmas season.

My father-in-law’s second wife grew tired of taking her Christmas tree and ornaments back and forth from the attic as she grew older. Her solution was to place the tree on a rolling base that she shoved into a corner of her living room after New Years Day. She covered the tree still doneed with decorations by using a neutral colored cloth that blended amazingly with her furnishings. Somehow the tree seemed to simply disappear until she uncovered it again and rolled it into a space where it was featured. I doubt that I would ever want to do such a thing but I have to admit that it was a rather ingenious way of keeping the Christmas spirit alive even as she neared her ninety second birthday.

Now I see people installing permanent lighting on the eaves of their homes that can change colors depending on the season. They turn orange for Halloween, green for St. Patrick’s day, red, white and blue for July fourth. When Christmas comes they simply use a program to make them shine in whatever scheme they wish. It seems like an extravagance to me but it is certainly a timesaver.

Just before Christmas last year my father-in-law had an horrific fall. His doctor’s said that it resulted because many of his organs were shutting down He ended up in hospice care that lasted until the first day of October. We were is such a tizzing attempting to make certain that he would get the best care possible that we were way late in getting our Christmas decorations in place. We left the outdoors for last.

One of our neighbors has a big party for the people who live nearby each year. On the morning of the event he came over in a panic wondering if the Grinch that we always place in the yard was available. It seems that he and his wife had created a treasure hunt that used the Grinch as one of the clues. We grabbed the green guy out of the garage and our neighbor secured him in place. We laughed when we realized that the kids around us love the Grinch so much that they waited expectantly for him each year.

I suppose that when I worry about the timing of Christmas cheer I am being a bit of a Grinch myself. I suppose that it does not really matter when or even if someone chooses to decorate for the season. I’ll no doubt stick to my usual routine or maybe start a wee bit earlier to celebrate along with Macy’s. Who knows? I just have to wait until the spirit moves me and right now it’s all about Halloween. I’ll see how I feel as we get nearer to Thanksgiving.