The time has come.

I hope Treebeard doesn't get wind of this.

Down on the corner, out in the street.

Not our tree; we had planned to get a real one but we never had a chance to go get it, so we wound up using our fine artificial one, which has served us well for more than a decade.

If you've been coming around this blog you are undoubtedly sick to death of hearing about Christmas, and I promise you there will be no Santa shaming this year. You want to leave your decorations up until Memorial Day, knock yourself out.

But I did want to mention that we wound up being quite happy once again with our artificial tree, which was made in the United States---in Orange County, New York, in fact, where very few things are actually manufactured anymore---by Christmas in America. These folks make fine trees at good prices, trees that look more like the real thing than any other comparably priced tree, and as our experience shows, they hold up well over time. Of course, if you order now (in January), you can get humongous discounts.

Don't even want to THINK of next Christmas? Then how about some artificial baby palms to decorate the patio?

Yes, really. They're cute!

For the record, I don't know anyone who works at Christmas in America, and I've never actually set foot in the place. I just think they make a great artificial tree. Remember, just 348 shopping days until Christmas!