Thanksgiving has barely passed, but the Christmas season already is in high gear, and I am already behind.

I am not running slow on Christmas gift shopping because that is always dragged out to the deadline. My tardiness lies in the decorating part of the season.

We made a Thanksgiving trip to Dumas, in the upper Texas Panhandle, to celebrate with my mother. That is a 9-hour drive so we spent most of Sunday resting after getting home just before midnight on Saturday. The rest has jeopardized the Christmas schedule.

You see, my wife and her family are of the belief that the Christmas tree must be hauled down from storage as soon as Thanksgiving dishes are cleared from the table. There is no rest for the merry.

My son and I fully intended to plant the tree in the living room Sunday, already three days late, but our schedule inadvertantly was altered. I fell asleep in a chair with a football game on television and Brady headed out the door to visit with friends. Fortunately Lil' Red, the wife, fell asleep on the couch Sunday afternoon. Brady and I got another day reprieve from decorating, but it put us another day behind schedule.

Christmas decorating around our house is more than just a tree, or eight. It consumes almost every room in the house, including hallways and stairways. I have to admit that, when all is complete, the house looks pretty. But, it sure is a lot of work for Lil' Red and doesn't always help her holiday mood.

The tree(s) did not get put up Sunday but it will be in place by the time anyone reads this. Some decorating did get done after naptime. The Santa Claus collection is in place and signs sprouted in various places reminding us of the season. "Believe," says one sign. I believe I should make myself scarce until Christmas Eve.

My job is pretty much finished when the tree is stood in place. That's because I am not to be trusted with decorating chores unless under close supervision. I can put ornaments on the tree, usually the ones that are near the top and as long as they are properly spaced from the other ornaments.

The tree needs a lot of ornaments to hide its imperfections. Even though it is artificial, it has some problems. In the past, on other trees, I have been known to hold it together with duct tape. The tape does not show up if there are enough decorations on the tree. Last year, in a fit of stinginess, I removed all the lights from our pre-lit tree because they did not work. It was impossible to change out just one strand, or eight, but there was no way I was going to buy another tree. We then strung new lights which are easy to remove if they should stop working. The folks who invented pre-lit Christmas trees should own one themselves.

Years ago I got out of hanging lights on the house, although it has been mentioned. I did that once, or twice, at risk of life or limb. Just a few strands down low is not good enough. Lil' Red thought it would make a bigger impact if the roof line, including the uppermost peak of a 2-story house, should be outlined in lights. There is no way to get around on top of our house except to grab, climb and scoot. The shortest fall would be about 10 feet, and it goes up beyond the reach of a 20-foot ladder. Then, the lights come unfastened, requiring another climb to the top. Lil' Red, thankfully, decided she did not yet want to be a widow.

What would be festive, though, is to buy a set of antlers for each of our dogs. We have eight, enough for Santa's reindeer team. Now, Petey! Now, Cami! Now, Rufus and Max! On, Lucky! On, Jersey! On, Elle and Taz! It does have sort of a ring to it.

Christmas decorating really isn't that bad. Lil' Red does most of it and I stay well out of the way. I'm just thankful that Brady has reached the age that we don't have to go all out for Valentine's Day, Easter, Independence Day, Halloween and Thanksgiving.