I was always a little relieved that we did not celebrate Christmas because my mother is a collector, and I know that the tree ornament collection would have been mind boggling.  Have you seen all the iterations on Christmas tree ornaments?!  There was this wonderful little store on Main Street in Sarasota, Florida (my home town) that was run by two wonderful gay men; while they carried all sorts of fun and homey stuff they had this amazing collection of really sparkly, gay, funny Christmas ornaments.  A gay Christmas tree guys!  You could even have a gay Christmas tree.  With feathers.   We even had some family friends that had four separate Christmas trees, each with a different theme, one always devoted to the Florida Gators.  Clearly ornament collecting and tree decorating is not for the faint of heart.

My theory is that because my family is Jewish and decorating for Christmas was out of the question, we went gung-ho for Halloween.

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