Guess what? I get to turn on the outdoor Christmas lights tomorrow for the first time. That’s a big deal at my house because my wife prefers to wait until December 1st while I’d start mid-November, yes, AFTER Remembrance Day. Now I might just be sneaky and turn them on tonight but don’t tell her as it’s only November 30th. Let it be a surprise. This is the time of year when people who like to entertain invite friends over to their house. When you walk in their door you look around and say to yourself, “Gee, I wish our place looked as neat and tidy as theirs”. We forget that the day before and the day after, their house probably did look like yours….lived in. If anyone drops over to your place on the spur of the moment, don’t you find yourself saying, “Pardon the way the place looks”. That’s the way everyone’s house looks unless they’re obsessive-compulsive, or at least there are no kids or pets. I no longer fool myself into believing everyone else’s home looks like a gleaming show home in a new subdivision. They are fun to visit on a Sunday afternoon but when you go home you have to remind yourself that, while that newly-built place with all the latest colour schemes and floor plans was really cool, you’re back in your home full of your stuff and your memories and where you feel more comfortable than anywhere else.

That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois.