Just a teeny-weeny bit of Christmas in November

I couldn't help myself. This weekend a cold front arrived, Dad left town to visit Pops, and Grandma and I were ready for decorating. We did. I know I should wait for one holiday to end before I start the next. I am one of those people who complains when I see Christmas decorations next to the aisle of Halloween decorations in September. It's outrageous! Anyway, I'm glad I did go through all the effort of pulling down the tree from the attic because IP had a blast decorating his very own mini-tree with the help of Grandma. This allowed me to assemble my "own" tree and decorate it in my typical "department store" fashion. Yes, I have actually been criticized for decorating a tree too professionally to the point where it doesn't look "homey." I tried homey the past two years and just couldn't warm up to the multi-colored lights and the blue, purple, green and what-not ornaments. Plus, I allowed little IP to help last year and well the tree looked, should I say... a little messy. I have my gold and red "organized" tree beautifully decorated with fresh new gold ribbon and red berries just like the department store. Yippee... While at the various retail establishments selecting decorations for his own tree, IP found a nutcracker. IP loves cracking nuts at home with his standard silver nutcracker. He's quite good at it and next year I may rent him out to the pecan farmers for some extra cash (just joking). I explained the whole story of the nutcracker and the rat king and how it is a ballet dance set to music....on and on. I opened the mouth of the nutcracker demonstrating how the lever worked, where the nut should be placed and how the contraption completed the process of cracking a nut. There was a period of long silence. I could tell he was processing the information. Then, IP looked at me and said with a serious, disbelieving voice, "That is the silliest thing I've ever seen."