It's time we hung some tinsel

Tonight we're going to do something unexpected -- something that some people who know us might even call rash. But it isn't a snap decision; we've given ourselves plenty of advance notice so that we won't be taken by surprise. So here it is: Tonight, we're going to bring out the eggnog and the Christmas movies and put up the Christmas tree, several weeks earlier than we usually do.

We're doing this to promote a feeling of cheery gladness in the house, because frankly, it could be a bit tense around here if we were willing to let our guard down. Things were absolutely horrible last Christmas and I honestly thought we'd never see times like that again -- and maybe we won't. But the media is doing such a great job of scaring everyone to death by telling them that there's no way they can get a car loan (my husband is a car salesman who works at a Chevrolet dealership), plus following the stock market's ups and downs second by second and breathlessly announcing that the unemployment rate hasn't been this high in 35 years, etc., etc. Well, it's put me right off of being a FoxNews junkie, I'll tell you. Too much of their dire predictions about bread lines and apple selling could find you with your own head in the oven instead of sugar cookies cut out in the shape of Santa.

So thank heaven for my parents, who gave us a big artificial tree last year when we couldn't afford to buy our usual real tree, because they said we could just keep it and now we can't afford a real tree this year either, as things turn out. The tree is sitting in its box on my dining room floor right now, ready to be assembled so that it can light up the house. All the boxes are piled around it - the boxes holding the Nativity sets and the snowman collection and the garland for the staircase, plus the wreaths for the front and back doors. We are ready for a little Christmas.

Here you have it, straight from the cast of Mame:

Mame:
Haul out the holly;
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.
Fill up the stocking,
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.
For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute,
Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.
Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute.
It hasn't snowed a single flurry,
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry;
So climb down the chimney;
Put up the brightest string of lights I've ever seen.
Slice up the fruitcake;
It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough.
For I've grown a little leaner,
Grown a little colder,
Grown a little sadder,
Grown a little older,

All:
And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder,
Need a little Christmas now.

Mame:
Haul out the holly;
Well, once I taught you all to live each living day.

All:
Fill up the stocking,

Young Patrick:
But Auntie Mame, it's one week from Thanksgiving Day now.

All:
But we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute,
Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.
Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute.

Agnes:
It hasn't snowed a single flurry,
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry;

Ito:
So climb down the chimney;
Put up the brightest string of lights I've ever seen.

All:
Slice up the fruitcake;
It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough.
For we need a little music,
Need a little laughter,
Need a little singing
Ringing through the rafter,
And we need a little snappy"Happy ever after,"
Need a little Christmas now.
Need a little Christmas now