I thought I saw something strange in my neighborhood a couple weeks ago. I posted about it on Facebook and Twitter but didn't think to mention it here. One of my neighbors appeared to have put up their exterior Christmas lights in early October. I thought, "Well, that's one way to protest Halloween." At the same time, I wasn't completely sure I had seen what I thought I had seen. Could they have been Halloween lights? I know some people in other parts of the country really get into Halloween decorations, but that would be very unusual here in Jesusland...I mean Mississippi.
Nope. Clearly not Halloween lights. While driving past the house in question early enough that the sun wasn't up yet, I stopped to have a closer look. The area around the front door was covered with Christmas lights, and there was even a Christmas tree on the door covered with additional lights. The outermost layer of lights was indeed orange, which would be consistent with a Halloween display. Most of the rest of the lights were more traditional Christmas colors, and I think the presence of a Christmas tree on the door made it sufficiently clear that this was not a Halloween display. I looked carefully for anything resembling Halloween decorations but saw none. So yes, one of my neighbors put up their Christmas lights at the beginning of October.
I don't know these neighbors, so I'm just guessing that this might be their way of showing the rest of us that they are skipping Halloween (and even Jesusween) and going straight for Christmas. With the huge numbers of Southern Baptists around here, this possibility doesn't seem nearly as far-fetched as it might in other areas. Many are not content just to skip Halloween; they like to use it to make pro-Jesus statements. More fun for the rest of us I suppose.
