Middle of Hanukkah -- a late Christmas tree

We now have our house all decorated for the holidays (we have no religious paraphernalia (except a random angel ornament) in our decorations.  This is a completely secular holiday to us).  My Girl has a tremendous stash of holiday decorations -- for nearly every holiday.  So, we have Halloween stuff, and Thanksgiving stuff and Christmas stuff (and other holidays as well, but you get the point ...).  She doesn't mind (too terribly) that I'm a lazy butt and hate to cart all this stuff out and then put it all away again only to cart out the next holiday's stuff.  But, I love her so and it's really not such a chore.  And, because it's her thing, she does most of the work.  Today we put out all the outside (ginormous) wreaths and put colored lights on the 12' pine that stands just outside our master bath window (all the rest are way too big to attempt to decorate).  We even have two small fake trees lining the entrance on our porch.

But, despite all the decorations, inside and out, we have no Christmas tree.  Moreover, we won't get a Christmas tree this year until the Saturday before Christmas.  Therefore, it still just doesn't feel like the Christmas season to me yet (notwithstanding the 2nd week in a row of temperatures below freezing).  Now, one might reasonably ask why we are waiting so late to get a tree. 

Well, that's the point of this post.  We are going to St. Maarten one week from tomorrow and will spend a full week basking in 80 degree temperatures, swimming in the ocean, golfing in the sunshine and generally relaxing.  I am so excited.  I've lost 20+ pounds, so I rewarded myself by buying a new swim suit.  OK, so it's still one of those lycra, hold-in-your-tummy things, but hey.  I even bought the pareo.

We will be staying at the Royal Palm Beach resort in Simpson Bay (the Dutch side of Sint Maarten).  It may not feel like Christmas yet, but I'm coping ...