Seems like less fun, more work this year for some reason

A city that welcomes the man in red down Main Street before we've even carved our Thanksgiving turkey can't judge me for what I'm about to say.

Our Christmas trees are up. Dave's valiantly come through in setting them up, I've been diligent in my lighting and decorating ... And voila, you have Christmas all over the place. We've finally amassed enough ornaments to fill all our trees (and then some ... some didn't make the cut this year) -- a "pre-Dave" tree, a "pre-Erin" tree, a blue-and-silver tree, a Santa/red tree and "our" tree.

Feel free to go get a tissue now.

But see, then you leave the house and no one else knows it's Christmas! fabulous Christmas! in your living room! in your dining room!

Instead, it's just November something and that woman in front of me in the grocery store's countering the cashier's pleasantries with her diatribe about how she hates the holidays, and the cashier nods and smiles and scans her savings card and suddenly, life's just mundane again.

Woman, she just asked how you were ... she didn't mean it! I think to myself. Take your raincloud and be a hater somewhere else. I'm trying to have CHRISTMAS over here.