This is the real mid-winter, about half way between December 1 and March 1. Whatever pleasure the December holidays might have bestowed is long gone, and weeks and weeks of cold lie ahead. Very little snow so far this year, however, only a bit more than last. Odd.

There are still a few houses displaying Christmas lights. Strangely enough, the only one on our block to retain their lights has downsized their display. During the height of the holidays, it’s one of those places with lights strung all around, bright figures in the yard, and a couple of inflatables. Now all they’re showing is one string of white and one string of blue along the roofline.

In the holiday décor Go Figure category this year: inflatable Santas in helicopters. I saw more than one of those. One chopper piloted by Kris said on the side, Ho Ho Helicopter. Does a helicopter really fit into the Santa story? It would have to be a pretty quiet helicopter, otherwise he’d wake everyone. And St. Nick might be in danger in areas of civil unrest and a repressive regime that uses helicopters. (If I had a rocket launcher, that jolly old elf would die…)