By Molly Snyder Senior Writer Published Mar 01, 2011 at 5:05 PM

Not that you asked, but one of my few pet peeves is when people leave up their holiday decorations too long.

By "too long" I guess I mean anytime after mid-January. Right around mid-February I start to get really Scrooge-y and annoyed by them, but by March, I’m aesthetically offended and ready to start issuing handmade tickets to any homeowner who thinks half-burned-out icicle lights or a inflatable penguin in a Santa hat are still acceptable yard adornments.

Christmas was 65 days ago and there’s another 300 days until the next one, so please, people, unstring the silver bells and put baby Jesus in a basement box. It’s garden gnome season now. Stick a whirling plastic flower in your lawn instead.

(What’s that, neighbor? You say I once left a half-filled baby pool out in the yard for an entire winter? Whoops.)


Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.

Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.