At what point does it become embarrassing?

sChristmas has come and gone.  One by one, the houses on our block have gone dark, and the street that was once aglow with festive colored lights is now void of the vibrancy it has less than a week ago.  With two exceptions:  our house and a house six doors up.

The warm weather we had in Wadsworth, Ohio over the weekend inspired folks to get outside and tackle to day-long project of removing their holiday decor and put it in storage for another year, but two of us are still clinging to the promises of joy and giving that the holidays bring.  Really, I just like the look of the red and green lights, and I will miss them when they're returned to their boxes and carried off to the attic, not to be seen again until next Thanksgiving.

Yes, we're typically the last ones to give in to the social pressure, merge in with the rest of the colorless flock, and go dark.  I always try to hold off until January 7th, using the excuse that the Russian Orthodox people don't celebrate their holiday until then.

Am I Russian Orthodox?  

Nope.

But I dated a boy who was when I was in high school, so that has to count for something, right?

I do admit that it is almost embarrassing that we still have them burning bright tonight.  But that didn't stop me from flicking that "on" switch as the sun set this evening!

You see, I'm not quite ready to give up on Christmas just yet.   ;)