Lights Out.

I love Christmas! Seriously, I could honestly be one of those people on TLC's Crazy Christmas Lights. Except, our yard is a lot bigger than most of theirs, so our decorations are spread out more. But I digress.

Glitter, sparkles, and anything that lights up is my modus operandi for decorating. I'm like a magpie. . . the shinier the better. And more is always even better than that. I start every year in the first week of November putting lights in the trees on the hillside in every color imaginable. . .  between 4000-6000 lights on the hillside in all. Pink lights? Got them. Gold? Uh-huh. Purple? You bet. Ice blue? My absolute favorites. Slime green? Yep, even slime green colored, which may not seem Christmasy, but they totally can be. Especially, when you hook them up to a device that synchronizes the lights to music. I swear to you, I could sit outside and listen to the carols while watching the lights blink on and off for hours. Basically, if I could, I'd so be one of those weird people that celebrates Christmas all year long, which funnily enough, there's a show on the TV about them right now. Good thing I'm not that far gone.

But it's the end of an era for me. The closing of a chapter. The fading notes of a song. The. . . you get the drift, right?

This year is completely different. Until this week, this was the extent of decorating that I had done (plus, the tree, which isn't pictured):

  See the black blob behind me? That's our little Bryony, who, as of her latest vet visit, weighs a hefty 27 lbs. 

Pitiful, right? Especially for a self-professed crazy Christmas devotee. I'm almost embarrassed by it. Almost. My excuses: 1) I'm still recovering from swine flu. . . Ugh, I'm telling you that stuff is hard to get rid of. And the worst part of it is, I got a flu shot just two months ago. But apparently, the shot didn't contain this particular type of swine flu. Who knew there was more than one type?  :( 2) We spent a good portion of Friday here:

Yep, the ER. Grandma thought it would be a good idea to mix bleach and laundry detergent together, pour it all over the porch, and then call Mom out to do something for her. Needless to say, it ended with a slip down the ramp and a badly sprained wrist (By the way, she should be completely recovered in a few weeks).

And the number three excuse: The goats have taken over my hillside. Since I really don't think the goats would get along with all of the various cords that a light display entails, I'm scaling back this year and eighty-sixing the light show on the hillside for good. But the clock is ticking and I still need to put out the rest of the decorations. Right now, I have the nativity scene, the chickens (Yep, wouldn't you know it? I have a Christmas chicken decoration), and the geese (And geese, too) up, but that's pretty much it. I'm sure the chickens and geese (the decorations, that is, not our real ones) are getting lonely and are probably ready for the rest of the animal decorations to join them.