I love Christmas. So long as it's December first

I CELEBRATED my 50th lap around the sun this year and I have to admit, I love Christmas now, possibly more than any other time in my life. I started a little ‘tit for tat’ with my neighbour last year with Christmas lights. He’d put up more, and I would return serve. He eventually played a winning move, by getting his kids to hold up a sign that said ‘honk for the lights’, and can I say, his kids can stay up late. Well played sir. I duly hatched plans to go one better and much to the aggravation of my dear wife, I have been acquiring Christmas lights since Boxing Day of last year, to enter this year’s ‘Light up the Fraser Coast’ Christmas Lights Trail. I certainly don’t expect to be winning anything, but I am shooting for the ‘you’ll be able to see our house from space’ look. Volume over substance could possibly be the best artistic expressional explanation. There is one rule however, nothing before December 1st, under any circumstances. Christmas decorations started going up in stores and shopping centres in early October and I have noticed a lot of people lighting up their houses and yards, well before December 1st. That’s not a happening thing for me; it irritates my rather defined sense of order and routine. December is the month for everything Christmas. RSL Carols by Candlelight, Christmas lights and Santa at the shops. At the risk of channeling the Grinch, November is simply not a Christmas month. I was told by a friend the other day that the only rule is that there is no rule when it comes to Christmas. Perhaps it’s not an argument even worth having? Is it never too early to start breaking out the tree and lights? What are your family traditions? Send us a note and tell us.

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