Embracing My Inner Grinch: Why I Removed The Bow Someone Tied To My Front Door

Last Thanksgiving, I awoke to find someone had tied a Christmas bow on my wrought-iron storm door. In the 10 years I'd lived in my condo on the east side of Columbus, Ohio, nothing like this had ever happened before.

Rather than putting me in the Christmas spirit, the gesture confused me. Who did this? A neighbor? Someone who considers him/herself one of "Santa's little helpers" and goes around tying bows on unsuspecting strangers' doors? Was this supposed to be some kind of prank?

The fact that someone tied something to my door without my permission also angered me. As a homeowner and a single person, I alone am responsible for paying my mortgage and I work hard to do so. If I choose to decorate for the holidays, I will. If I don't, that's my prerogative, to quote Bobby Brown.

However, figuring that it may have been a well-meaning neighbor who tied the bow to my door, I left the mysterious decoration up in the spirit of goodwill. After all, that's what the season is about, right? And would it kill me to tolerate a frilly bow hanging on my door for less than a month? No.

But then the same thing happened again this year. When I left my house to participate in a local Turkey Trot race on Thanksgiving Day last week, I discovered another bow tied to my storm door. This time, I took it down immediately.

Now, so that I'm not misunderstood as some kind of Ebeneezer Scrooge who hates the holidays, I should explain why I took the bow down. I consider myself a devout Christian and a practicing Catholic, so Christmas has a very significant meaning for me beyond the commercial, secular season that it has become.

I would have had no problem, for example, with a church slipping a flyer in my door inviting me to come to Christmas Eve services. But tying an object to my door feels like an invasion of property rights - albeit a harmless one.

I'm sure whoever tied the Christmas bow to my door had the best of intentions. But what if I was a Jehovah's Witness or someone who chooses not to celebrate holidays? Would this supposedly thoughtful gesture offend me?

What if I'd lost a loved one around this time of year and any reminder of the holidays sends me into a depression? Maybe "Santa's little helpers" should think twice before they go around tying stuff to other people's property.

This blog post is part of a weekly holiday series on "Embracing My Inner Grinch." In next week's installment, which I plan to publish on Friday, Dec. 12, I'll gripe about one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to holiday parties.

'Tis the season to be grumpy...