It's No Wonder We Love Our Neighborhood

We love our neighbors. They are friendly, helpful, and just downright pleasant. In the past we've relied on various neighbors for cat sitting, dog walking, pellet furnace filling, borrowed lawn equipment, and baby hand-me downs. And we like to think we return the favors whenever possible (at the very least we give them an annual event at which they can risk life and limb to de-clutter their woodsy yards).

Recently, we spent 48 hours in the Boston area for Thanksgiving and troubled one of our neighbors to feed not only our cats, but also the two cats next door, for whom we were responsible that week. He agreed without hesitation.

We returned on Saturday to find all four cats well fed, but also this on our front lawn:

If you can't tell, it's a four-foot-tall-light-up-mechanical-drumming-holiday-bear. It so tacky, right? Not the kind of thing we would ever put on our lawn. But there it was, all set up and waiting for us. Buttons barked at it and Tai fell in love with it right away ("bear! drum-drum-drum!"). So, of course, it stays. Apparently, our neighbor knew better than we did that we needed this thing. Our lives are now richer and more full of the holiday spirit. And I'm sure it will decorate our lawn each December for many, many, many years. Does this mean I have to apologize to my sister for making fun of her mechanical reindeer?