it takes a village

Of course the Christmas season has been going strong since the day after Halloween ended, and for the past few weeks my parents have started decorating our house.

I'd like to think they're done but my mother keeps fucking around with the tree, so probably not.

My mother's pride and joy of Christmas decorations, her village, is up. That thing has been a constant every Christmas. It keeps changing size, place, and pattern but it's always up without fail.

She's got a new piece for it this year, some kind of merry-go-round/maypole thing. Or some kind of ice rink. It turns on and the people on it move around in a circle, and it makes a weird grinding noise as if one of the people got caught in it.

It looks smaller now than it has in recent years, which means that she either didn't put all the pieces out or there's a second village somewhere else in the house. I think it's that she didn't put all the pieces up since the ice rink (another Christmas constant or I complain) is set up downstairs.