Thankful Thursday

It snowed and sleeted last night.

Today it was gray and cold and windy. 

If I didn't know better, I would say that it was December 24 instead of March 24.  This weather is certainly more suited for the week of Christmas rather than the first week of spring.  Looking ahead to the end of next week, more wintery weather is in the forecast.

So while the weather outside may be frightful, with more snow showers on the way, at least one aspect of Christmas is no longer a part of my life.

I am thankful, extremely thankful, that my husband finally took down our outdoor Christmas decorations.   

Outdoor Christmas decorations -- lights, yard ornaments and such -- are a dicey proposition in the upper midwest.  As is true of so much of midwestern life, timing and the weather are absolutely crucial.

Some people put up their Christmas displays shortly after Halloween.  Most people wait until just before or just after Thanksgiving.  And like our next-door neighbors, some people put up their Christmas lights and never take them down.

We generally aim to decorate the exterior of our house fairly soon after Thanksgiving.  If we celebrated the holiday at home, it would be easier to achieve that goal.  But our tradition is to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family 175 miles away.  We usually don't return home until the very end of the holiday weekend, so if Thanksgiving falls to the later end of the possible range of dates, our decorations may not make their appearance until the first or second weekend of December.

Unfortunately, weather has often thrown a wrench in our plans.  Once our gutters are filled with snow and ice, it's practically impossible to hang the lights, and piles of snow and frozen ground make it difficult to anchor our larger pieces.

This year the yard decorations went up without a hitch, but the lights along the eaves were a no go.  I missed the festive look, but consoled myself with the thought that our electric bill wouldn't be through the roof.

The real problem presented itself when Christmas was over.  We were inundated with snow and ice.  The electrical cords that snaked to the various trees and figures were buried under heaps of snow.  And the pieces that weren't lit were firmly staked into rock solid frozen earth.  Nothing was budging.

My husband agreed to unplug the illuminated decorations, so at least our house wasn't glowing as brightly as Rudolph's nose every night.  But there was no escaping the holiday display in the daylight -- a family of three large, white, wooden reindeer, a plastic snowman, two skeletal Christmas trees and a Santa Stop Here sign screamed "Merry Christmas!" to everyone who drove along our street.

Weeks passed and still more snow fell.  Then my husband left for Florida and the Blizzard of 2011 dumped more than 20 inches of snow on the greater metropolitan area.

For awhile there was so much snow the Christmas decorations were hidden beneath a mountainous blanket of white.  But almost as quickly as it came, the snow melted, and once again I felt like I was living in a white trash nightmare.  The snow was gone, but the ground was still frozen and the decorations were still there in all their unseasonal garishness.

Finally, finally, my husband decided that he would check to see if the earth had thawed enough for him to pry the big pieces out of the ground . . . and . . . eureka!  They wiggled, they moved, they yielded to force and one by one they left big, gaping, muddy holes in our yard, but thank heavens they no longer graced our front lawn with their presence.

I enjoy the festive look of Christmas decorations in December -- but in January, February, March . . . umh, not so much.  So I am especially thankful that my yard is finally blissfully bare in anticipation of the beautiful natural decorations of spring.

Now if it could just hurry up and get here!   : )