Christmas Spirit?

Now that we have eaten ourselves into oblivion; are we in the Christmas spirit yet? I know I am. The way that I get ready is to put up Christmas decorations. This year it was a little different because I am not where I was last year. My residence has changed but I still got into the holiday spirit and what better way to do that then to start a friendly 'competition' amongst the neighbors to see if they will take the unspoken challenge.
Since I'm a writer, I know how to draw out a story by painting a picture that you want to reach out and touch. I did this with my new neighbors by sending the message: "Christmas is here, where are your lights?" Now I didn't go knocking on doors, I simply took my cue from the sad little neighbor two doors down who put up a sad little lonely red bow. However the message was clear, so I stepped up to the challenge. I then enlisted the help of two others and off to Home Depot we went. We picked up solar candy cane lights, potted red poinsettas and clips for the many lights that would be hung.
Then it was off to Micheal's Art/Craft store for the finishing touches of BIG red bows, WITH bells. See I saw the sad little bow as a challenge, and I think I met it; head on!
So after all was put on the house and the lights are twinkling; wouldn't you know that all of the neighbors were 'raking leaves' or so they wanted me to think. But by Sunday evening, three more houses had stepped up to the unspoken challenge of Christmas decorating. Now granted, they are NOT on my level. When I take on a challenge, I TAKE on a challenge. Ok, granted someone tried doing the lights on the deck railing...but honestly, that isn't even worth my time because I KNOW I could blow them out of the water with the bows, lights, and holiday table setting on the table.
Now the Christmas spirit to me doesn't mean shopping on Black Friday, although this year I did and had a ball at noon instead of midnight. Yes, there are still bargins at noon and I didn't have to stand in line outside to get them.
Being in the Christmas spirit means, bringing out the 'friendly competition" amongst neighbors and seeing who will reign supreme.
And the winner is....well if you want to know that, I'll post some pictures of my decorations next week and if you are up to it, submit yours too; I'll gladly hand over the crown, kicking and screaming of course, but I'll hand it over and then I'll go shopping again. After all, I'm up to the challenge that anyone puts out there.
So get ready, set, decorate!
Happy Holidays!