Keeping up with the Rodríguezes

Why is it October 13 and my halls have been decked for a few days now? Of course the retail world is in full-on Christmas mode, but Dominicans aren't far behind. Fellow missionary Cindy has a neighbor whose apartment, inside and out, looks like the North Pole, and the nearest branch of the bank chain that sells car registration stickers had its tree up already. Lights keep appearing on more and more houses. Gotta keep up with the Rodríguezes*! Also, my travel schedule between now and Christmas is such that if I wanted to enjoy my decorations at all, I needed to put them up!

My NON-FAKE TREE solution for displaying the few ornaments I've acquired here. I'm holding out!

*Rodríguez is the most common surname in the Dominican, according to Wikipedia. Fascinatingly, it was also the 9th most common in the United States as of the 2010 census. García was 6th!

Until next time, blessings!