I can start decorating for Christmas now. I sounded the “all clear” signal as soon as the last of the turkey was consumed. I’ve always hated seeing Christmas touted long before the first true American holiday has arrived, and I’ve worried that Thanksgiving is getting lost in the shuffle.

So I’ve done my part, and you’ll not find a single Santa or Rudolph on display in my home until after the fourth Thursday in November. But after that, watch out! Friends know how overboard I go when it comes to decorating for Christmas, equating the interior of my home to “an explosion at the North Pole.”

And I DO love Christmas. The red and green hustle and bustle, the music, the lights—it makes it all so cheery in the dark of December! So I decorate, and sing, and enjoy all the festivities of the season to the absolute max.

But only AFTER I’ve put away Mr. Gobble—it’s only fair.