To be honest, I�m not sure if it is up to an entire saga, but it is certainly up to a parable or fairy tale. Or perhaps something in between.

Once upon a time, there was no furniture. Everyone sat on the floor and it was hard and uncomfortable and they complained bitterly while watching important football games on ESPN or long movies on TCM. And there was much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth. Then one glorious day, the sofa appeared. And the people rejoiced and sat upon it and lay down upon it and slept upon it with a peace that had hitherto never been known in the land, because that is what the sofa was good for. And the smaller people among them jumped up and down on it and hid behind its cushions, because the sofa was good for that too.

But the sofa bore a secret so terrible, that the people could never have imagined it. It was a Trojan sofa. It bore beneath its gleaming white covers and soft, soft cushions the seeds of a horrible pestilence that were soon released upon the land.�

Er, yeah. Enough of that crap. What I meant to say is that we have ants. They seem to have come in with the sofa and their population has recently exploded in an alarming way. Which kind of defeats the purpose of the comfy sofa. So once again we are sitting on the floor. At least until the extermination process is complete.

In order to escape the anti-ant fumes, we all went out for a walk in a nearby neighborhood that is decked out beyond belief for the holidays with enough lights to illuminate a small nation. My favorite sighting, though, was not light related. It was one of your basic yard cr�che scenes, but for some reason it was set up inside a pup tent. Yup, the Holy Family is going camping this season. I hope they remembered to pack the bug spray and the canteen.

We also couldn�t help but notice that the inflatable snowmen (and there were many to be seen) were all saluting in a way that was no doubt meant as a friendly hello but looks much more like �Heil!� At least, this is what it looks like when you see a whole bunch of them lined up in consecutive yards. This brings new meaning to the term �white supremacist.�

0 people said it like they meant it