Maybe I got left off the email list, maybe someone forgot to pass on the carrier pigeon, maybe I'm just totally disconnected from some hive mind that every other homeowner is tapped into - but seriously, people, what the hell is with the obsession with inflatable holiday decorations?

I ask this because there are several homes in my neighborhood who've been hit by the Inflatable Holiday Display Monster's unholy diarrhea. At least, I hope that's the explanation.

Jen and I knew it was going to get bad when one house cycled through the Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas decorating timetable with a half-dozen inflatables for each, but last night, I saw the equivalent of Holiday Inflatable Defcon One.

As I rounded the corner on my way to pick up a pizza, I witnessed at least a dozen or more inflatables in a front yard slightly larger than ours - which is to say, maybe 50 feet long and 15 feet deep - including a giant Holiday Arch hulking over the house's steps. It was a giant, glowing, inflatable army; I'm almost afraid to go back to shoot a picture or two, since I might come upon them humming the Navy Hymn or training with bayonets or laying anti-tank mines on the sidewalk.

If it's not too horribly cold or snowy later, though, I'll risk it.