Decorating for other holidays

Like This, But On My Lawn

Every year, around this time on the calendar, I become very wistful. A quick digression to explain.

When my wife and I had our first child, and much more free time, we had such grand plans. Not for the usual things that fall by the wayside -- the kid won't ever eat sugar, watch television, play video games, etc. -- but for other aspects. We both come from creative backgrounds, and also have idiosyncratic and highly active senses of humor. I listen to a ton of comedy podcasts in my spare time, have done stand up comedy a few times, devour specials on Netflix and go to the occasional show. I also write for comedy on other blogs, and really can't get through the day without exploring such tangents in my mind.

Not the least of which was the idea that decorating one's house for Halloween and Christmas, while fun and fine and dandy, really didn't go far enough. At least, not for the purposes of High Creativity.

To wit: why not President's Day? (But only the more obscure ones; giant heads of Martin van Buren and Millard Fillmore on top of the house, just to see what kind of comments we can generate.) I'd rather skip Valentine's Day because it just seems tacky, but some kind of vengeful leprechaun action might be interesting for St. Patrick's, or maybe just a great mass of snakes to symbolize what was being driven out of Ireland. Mother's Day should get as many mothers in the windows as possible (Mother Teresa, Ma Kettle, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention), and Flag Day could get the place looking as close to the UN as possible.

This doesn't even get us into the more obscure ones, of course. Big Bill Murray printouts for Groundhog Day, the never ending spree of numbers for Pi Day, all manners of madness for Leap Day (perhaps the most special of holidays, given the rareness)... there's opportunities on a daily basis to be the kind of people that the rest of the neighborhood either treasures or avoids. If your life is the story that you tell about it, I'm fond of the idea that the story should be big and memorable. Or, failing that, more than a little goofy. It's how I'm wired.

Of course, this isn't what happens in the day to day. Just staying ahead of the writing, the day job, the fitness goals and the other obligations is 3 or 4 jobs, and there isn't enough money, or time, for the things we should be setting aside money and time for (college, retirement, charity, sleep...), let alone hardcore foolishness and inexplicable public behavior.

But, still.

The temptation to construct a field of presidential busts in a "Hunger Games" style arena on the front lawn, just to make the President's Day weekend more than a little sinister and very, very memorable?

Well, if we ever manage to have a significant Wealth Event from one of our clients with equity, it's gonna happen.

And if it starts a movement?

As good of a marketing moment as anything I've ever done, honestly...

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