I'm raising another Clark Griswald

by teresa

Last year I made the mistake of telling Ben ...yes.
His question was,"can I be in charge of the outside lights next year?"
I like simple white lights on the bushes and I even broke down and bought two of those lite deer and a tree last year for the front yard.
We let the boys do whatever they want in the backyard.
Last year it looked like Christmas at the trailer park out back...and we all loved it.
Well this year Ben has taken it upon himself to make our house seen from space.
Every extra strand, plastic whos-it and whats-it, reindeer, santa face, blinking star and even a 4 foot tall santa.
It is killing me. I like order...simplicity....classic.
But I am trying to be a good parent and follow through with my promise.

We'll see how long I can last.

Funny story:
When Ben first got out the santa from the attic he put it in his room. He cleared off his dresser and had that sucker sitting up top, looking out his bedroom window. It was actually kinda cute from outside. Later that night when I put him to bed it was another story. In the dark, that big 'ol santa scared the ba-jeezus out of me. With the lights out it looked like a 8 foot tall monster lurking in the corner. I screamed, we all laughed and then Chris and I had an idea. Put it in Lauren's room, so when she creeps in at 2am it will give her a fright. hee hee We could hardly contain ourselves. We placed it just inside her door...and for extra effect we placed a sheet over it. EEEEEK! It looked so creepy. She came in long after us old people went to bed. But the next morning she told me it scared her to death. Then it scared her again when she got up in the night to go to the bathroom. I love messing with my kids heads.