On my morning bike ride, I pass a number of homes that like to go all out on the holiday decorations.
Holiday decor never been my bag, although I have fond memories of making a paper mache spider one Halloween long ago with my daughter, and crafting a DIY piñata with a couple of toddlers certainly made for one of our more memorable Thanksgiving celebrations.
The past couple of seasons I've noticed a trend toward more blinged out front yards. In particular, as prices have come down on spectacularly large plastic doodads, everyone's yard seems to require more complex preparations.
Extension cords gone wild, lighting that would outperform my high school auditorium and 12 foot tall skeletons so popular that desperate dads from affluent suburban drive miles out of their way to score them at outlying Home Depot locations.
The skeletons look like an absolute bear to set up - they require more internal and external architectural support than a Victorian girdle.
Which is why I was tickled the past week as a suburban parent who had no energy left decided that no way was something that took so much effort to erect going to come down after only one month in the yard.
Toss a couple of Santa hats and scarves on the skeletons, and voila, they get to stay out until New Year's. Call it sympathy for the sloth, but I gave that house a pass.