What's The Rush

The new year is only a few days old, and the Holidays haven't even been over for a week, but if you took a stroll down our block, you would think that the Grinch had bought the split- level on the corner. Starting on New Year's Eve, my neighbors began systematically dismantling Christmas. These are the same people who were in such a hurry to get the Christmas party started that I was tripping over reindeer while trick or treating. I'm not a fan of this "wham bam thank you St. Nick" treatment of the holidays. Why are we treating Christmas and the New Year like ugly girls we brought home at closing time only to kick them to the curb without buying them breakfast?

It might have something to do with the weather. So far, this Fall and Winter has been unseasonably mild in Chicago. In mid-November, the temps were in the 60's, and that spurred most of my neighbors to get their outside decorations up prematurely. I was lucky. The weather held out and I was able to wait until Dec. 1, which seemed more acceptable. This week the temps are in the 50's and since all Chicagoans know that the deep freeze is coming, people panicked and made Christmas take it's version of the "walk of shame".

I must confess that I took my lights down today also. I was one of the last four houses on the block to stay illuminated. I proudly had my lights on through last night. I'm really only a couple of days ahead of schedule. I usually wait until the second week of January to bid the holidays adieu, but I fell victim to the weather forecast too. It's supposed to get cold next week. I'm not going soft or anything, OK, maybe I am a little, but I thought it would be more comfortable standing on my wet lawn when it was 50 degrees rather than when it was 20 degrees. I also had to give the decorations a few days to dry out before packing them away for another year.

There's something a little sad about taking down your Christmas decorations. I'm actually glad the holidays are over, but the neighborhood looks so good with all the houses done up in their holiday best. Our street looked like it belonged at Disneyland. While I may mock it form time to time, or most of the time, it really is pretty. For the last month I have been able to sit in my office in the late afternoon and watch as the lights all began to come on. They gave off a beautiful glow. This afternoon, it's just dark. I guess it's just a reminder that Winter is going to be around for awhile and we better get used to it. I may have to come up with another reason to put some lights in the trees. I could pretend that I'm opening a bistro or something. I always feel festive when surrounded by outdoor illumination. Maybe a Ground Hog's Day extravaganza followed by a full array of Valentine's day lights. I've got to start working on my schematics. Don't forget about the big show on WGN tomorrow night/Sunday morning from 1-5am. We have lots of things planned and we even have a guest on this week. It's hard finding people willing to stay up late and not be drunk, but we found someone. Have a great weekend! Later...Brian