Get Into the Spirit of the Season

“The war is on.”

These words greeted me as I arrived at work this morning. My friend gestured across the waiting room to the front counter of a neighboring office.

“With them.”

I wondered what had happened after I left yesterday. Whatever it was wasn't evident to my untutored eyes as I looked across the lobby. My cluelessness must have been broadcasting loud and clear, because my friend took pity on my puzzled self and elaborated.

“Everything was fine until they put up lights.”

I peered at their counter. Festive holiday lights wrapped with sparkly garland festooned their windows. I looked at the pile of Christmas stockings and the poinsettias my friend had spread in front of her on the desk and it finally clicked.

The decor war was on.

It started innocently enough several years ago. They hung a wreath on the wall behind reception. We had little decorations on our check-out counter. They put up a Christmas tree on their shared work space. We hung garland. They put out knick-knacks. We bemoaned the lack of a decorating budget. This year our receptionist strung mini lights around our window.

They threw down the gauntlet when they added lights around their window last night.

Today our militant decorators added the plants to the reception counter, put a bow on the sliding glass divider, and hung stockings for each of us on one of the doors.

Will I come in tomorrow to find the door blocked by one of those giant snow globes or a dancing Santa? Perhaps there will be a herd of twinkling reindeer lined up down the hallway or animatronic elves making toys in the corners. I know for certain that one of my coworkers has a train set that he would love to mount on the walls near the ceiling.

If they bring in Santa and try to make me sit on his lap I'm going to run away until after the New Year.