We lit 'em up. And we got lit in the process. Guido and I drove the boys to Stew Leonard's to get Christmas trees, pork chops, boneless ribs (ribs without the ribs?) and Italian sausage. Pig and pine. Then we took it all back to start the grill, open the vermouth bottle, and start hanging Christmas lights.

Mission accomplished: the lights are one. The trees are still strapped to the top of the car, though -- it got cold out there fast. So I still have some outdoor work to do, at least to get those things off the roof and down to the end of the driveway (three trees: one for me, one for Guido, and one for Guido's mom upstairs).

After all that vermouth, I need some sleep.