Love it or loathe it, the recent snow has brought a sense of the holidays to the air. While we can do without the winds and the white-out conditions, waking up to a fresh layer of snow means the holidays are quickly approaching and nothing gets you in the mood like Christmas decorations.

Taking up on that theme -- and braving the cold, snowy conditions -- was the McCook Economic Development Corp., which hosted a Holiday Home Tour this last Saturday.

I would like to commend everyone who worked to put on the Holiday Home Tour in McCook, but would like to especially thank the homeowners who opened their doors to the 200-plus visitors.

They were more courageous than I by opening up their homes. Not only did they have to tidy up and decorate their entire homes (including the bathrooms in many cases) for complete strangers, but they had to endure the snowy, wet shoes of those same people.

I assume the carpet cleaners have already been to these homes and gone by now.

All of the Christmas decorations were inspirational, providing a variety of ideas on how to decorate our own homes. Their Christmas trees were things of beauty. Nearly every room in every house featured some Christmas item.

But in the end, the tour came down to one thing -- seeing the inside of someone else's home. While we didn't look in the medicine cabinets, we saw more than one bathroom, more than one walk-in closet, more than one basement. Something you can't do everyday.

Most people aren't going to admit that they went just to see the houses rather than the decorations, I beg anyone to say they can forget a certain master bathroom. People outside may not have remembered if there was a tree in the living room, but could tell you the color of the whirlpool.

While the four houses this year were gorgeous and very livable, I'd like to propose an alternative tour for next year: The reality tour.

This tour would feature homes that are used and used hard. While I am in no way offering up my house for next year (there's no way I could have it presentable for next year, even if I started tomorrow), I offer up these examples from my house.

The Christmas trees: The houses could feature two trees with the first fully decorated, at least on the bottom half with ornaments only up as far as the oldest child could reach. The second tree is for the good ornaments, which of course, would only be located on the top two feet, well out of reach of the youngest child's reach.

The entry-way: While the houses this year showcased beautiful decorations and antique holiday displays as you entered, that's not the reality in most homes. I have Christmas decorations -- from last year -- intermingled with the gloves and hats in the basket by the doorway. And look for the decorative holiday rug ... underneath the 12 sets of snow boots and tennis shoes ... which hides the multiple Kool-Aid spills from this summer.

And many of the homes this year featured breakable ornaments precisely displayed across a dining room table, porcelain knickknacks lining the bookshelves, glass figurines resting on each end-table.

In my house, my exactly-laid decorations would be rearranged four times before the end of the day. Half the knickknacks would have chips and cracks, if they happened to still have all their parts. As for anything glass, consider it broken if it's out in plain view.

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As for other Christmas decorations, I must commend another group of people:

Those who have their Christmas lights up and on.

Anyone who has their lights up can be grouped into one of three categories:

Those who never took them down from last year and just had to flip the switch. Those who were on the ball and got their lights up before the snow and cold hit. And those who have braved the elements, the frozen fingers and numb limbs to hang their lights in the past two weeks.

Those people are the one's who are not bemoaning the snow and wind, but rather embracing the winter weather.

While I haven't embraced it that fully yet, I'll be sad to see this extreme cold weather go, but p because I will lose my outdoor cooler. When I'm too lazy to walk leftovers to the basement freezer, I just open the patio door and set the container outside until the next day. That luxury will be gone soon as the temperatures rise.

But at least I'll then be able to hang my Christmas lights.

-- As a mother of five, Ronda Graff spends half an hour preparing her children to go outside sledding. She then stands watch at the door, requiring at least 15 minutes before they venture back inside.