There are moments when the lack of respect I get in my house is unbelievable.

Example: yesterday S and I used the relatively warm and dry afternoon to put up some outdoor Christmas lights. Part of our post-pool construction landscaping was adding seven Norwegian spruces to our backyard to provide some privacy. We decided to add them to our holiday decorating by wrapping them in Christmas lights.

(We also have five new Norwegian spruces in our front yard, but they are over 250 feet from the nearest power outlet. While lighting them might be more pleasing to passersby, it would also be a lot more work, so we stuck with the ones in the backyard. Plus the ones in the back are visible from all the rooms inside where we spend most of our time.)

It took 90 minutes or so – the tallest of these trees is just 8’ so there was minimal ladder use – and turned out pretty well. We had the lights on as we put them up to make sure the spacing was right, everything worked, etc. As it was a dreary day and L was playing at a friend’s house, we decided to leave them on until she got home so she could see them. Then we would turn them back off until after Thanksgiving.

Well, I decided that and said something to S about doing exactly that as M walked by.

“NOOOO! Leave them on!” M yelled at me.

“But it’s not even Thanksgiving yet and you know my rule,” I responded. “No Christmas decorations, Christmas music, or Christmas movies until after Thanksgiving.”

“THAT’S STUPID!” she screamed at me. She was a bit of a beast this weekend but her reaction still seemed a little over-the-top.

I turned to S for support and she shrugged and said, “I think we should leave them on, too.”

This is how my efforts to create family traditions are rewarded: I’m yelled at and told they are stupid.

I should add that L watched The Grinch Saturday night.

Nobody listens to me, nobody cares. The B girls have apparently declared war on my Christmas traditions. I guess we should give their gifts now and sleep in on Christmas day.

Other weekend notes:

Cathedral lost in the regional round of the football playoffs. They had a 10–7 lead over the #1 team in the state, had first and goal late in the third quarter, but could not punch it in and then missed the field goal. They quickly gave up a touchdown, fumbled and gave up another touchdown, and then it turned ugly. They lost 35–10. A great season that ended with about 12 minutes of bad football.

The Oklahoma-Baylor game Saturday was crazy fun to watch. Well, I only saw the second half but had followed the first half online and through the texts from a friend who was attending the game with his daughter who goes to BU. Probably should have seen the Baylor meltdown coming, given how they had been lucky to get to 9–0. OU was just dominant in the second half, which is real testament to their players and coaching staff. They could have easily said, “Screw it,” and packed it in.

Feel bad for Tua.

We watched some of L’s classmates win the B2 league City championship Sunday. It was a tight affair through three quarters, St P’s led 4–3. They ripped off eight unanswered points to take home the trophy. Some of us were joking about how big every basket would be when the fourth quarter started. When St. P’s scored their first bucket of the run, one dad turned to us and said, “Well, that should do it,” and we all laughed. Youth basketball kind of sucks.

On the way home I asked L would she rather have been on the A team and had to play the really good teams and lost the way her team lost, or have been on a B team, scored more points, and won City. Without delay she said the A team.