I have no one to blame but myself.
Several months ago, when the idea of my house being part of the Chamber of Commerce's Tour of Homes was raised, I said "Sure. I'd be thrilled."
After all, I'm a guy. In my mind, I knew we'd be decorating for Christmas anyway, so why not have a few people come by and see the house. No problem. Case closed.
That, mind you, was my thought process.
Then I mentioned the tour to my wife.
And I cannot begin to fathom the synapses that fired throughout her brain.
Now, of course, I see the result.
The tour became her excuse for a litany of home projects. We finished adding ceiling fans and a chandelier to our pergola. We painted, caulked, re-painted and re-caulked. We bought plates we'll never eat off of and glasses that'll never touch our lips.
Heck, even my coveted junk room - you know, that place where we could toss anything when company was coming over - is gone. In its place is a "beach room," complete with lighted palm trees.
All that doesn't even count the attic full of Christmas decorations we had to put somewhere.
(And just to add to the stress, I decided it was time to upgrade aquariums and set a goal to have a 90-gallon saltwater tank up and running by Dec. 1.)
So we've spent nearly every free minute - which for a community newspaper guy are few and far between during high school and college football season - getting the house ready.
But it wasn't until my wife was pulling the magnets off the refrigerator that her goal became clear: Apparently, she wants it to appear that no one lives in our home. That's the only thing I can come up with. Why else would we be cleaning up the laundry room? Or straightening up a closet?
Anyway, we're planning for a couple of hundred guests to mosey through our house Saturday evening. If you'd like to take the tour, tickets are available at the Chamber of Commerce (706-597-0335) or Abigail's on Main in downtown Thomson. Tickets are $25 each (with a discount for guests older than 65 and large groups). The Chamber - which will benefit from the proceeds of the tour - is going all out for the tour, even providing chauffeured transportation between the seven houses. The other homes feature are: Dick and Erin Dozier's Fairview, Charles and Bonnie Johnson's home on Folly Lake, Jennifer and Preston Newton's home off Rock House Road, Tony and Detra Pate's home on Ridge Road, The Rock House and Bob and Cindy Wilson at Pine Top Farm.
So take some time after Saturday's Festival off Main and before Sunday's Christmas parade and tour some of the diverse places some McDuffie Countians call home.
Even if it doesn't look that way Saturday night.
