I thought Sunday's New York Times article, titled Jolly and Green, With an Agenda, was a helpful mix of subtle education and practical guidance — education for folks who don't automatically think green; guidance for folks who may have a tendency to overdo the greening of everything.

Indeed, there's a fine line between a bore and being a boor, and it's a tightrope I walk regularly.

Case in point:

A couple of weeks ago, my wife mentioned that she had purchased some new outdoor holiday lights; I asked if they were LEDs — they weren't. I knew better than to suggest we didn't need to put up lights this year, but my offer to exchange the two strings Alisan bought was accepted.

Last  Saturday, Alisan's family gathered in Colorado Springs to put up her folks' Christmas tree. There was absolutely no point in getting out my green soap box, so I didn't. As we were leaving, Alisan asked me if a neighbor's outdoor lights were LEDs — bingo! — at least Alisan was thinking more about such things than she was on her visit to K-Mart a couple of weeks ago.

We've so much to accomplish in the way of daily behavior change that there's no point in spoiling the holidays by overdoing the green preaching.

I do wish, however, that I could convince my mother to stop her incessant use of the word Xmas!

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