Better watch out...

No sooner had I regained consciousness earlier this week, and entered the world once more, I found myself bombarded by all things Christmas. It never ceases to amaze me how The Holidays seem to begin insidiously "creeping up" on me earlier and earlier every year... or, should I say, THE COMMERCIALIZATION of The Holidays begins insidiously creeping up... As far as I can tell, Christmas has fallen on December 25 for as long as I can remember. Why is it, then, that The Powers That Be have "The Season" beginning sometime around the end of August??! I'm not joking, people-- I began seeing little piles of Christmas cards alongside the Back To School Sales... And come to think of it, THOSE started in mid-July...

Anyway.

Apparently, The Christmas Season is upon us. And so, in order to begin whipping myself into my annual frenzy, I decided to start by prettying up the front of our house. The zillions of tiny little fairy lights are up on all the trees outside, and look beautifully sparkly in the twilight this evening. I've cleaned out the big wrought-iron urns on the front steps, and will be making a concerted effort this year to make sure I get out there and create the enormous arrangements of pine and cedar boughs before it gets so cold out that I wind up losing a few fingers to frostbite during the process...

And, as you can see above, our new doormat is out.

Some of you might remember that I managed to find The World's Greatest Doormat for our front door last spring:

It seems wildly antisocial, I know... but it is only for the FRONT door, where all the salespeople and donation-collectors go... Everyone who knows me knows to come to the BACK door. It is always unlocked for friends-- AND it's the closest door to the kitchen, which is where the Good Food is. I have absolutely no problem putting the more-than-slightly-brusque doormat at the front. If you have to knock on my front door, you probably have no business being here, anyway.

Here are a few more choice door mat selections that I'll be keeping an eye out for in the future:

Actually, truth be told, my house wasn't all that clean last week, either...

The Jeeves and Wooster doormat (for those of you who share my fanaticism for Hugh Laurie).

And while we're on the subject of mad English idiosyncrasies...

This one's clearly custom-designed for my front door users...

And this one's custom-designed for ME...

See above...

Think this'll make people think I own a massive rotweiller? I guess I'd need sound effects, too...

And for anyone foolish enough to come back...

But YOU ALL can come to my back door. It's open, as always. Coffee's on, and the first batch of shortbread cookies are in the oven...

Because apparently, Santa Claus is comin' to town.