Decorations
I’ve never been much of a decorate the lawn and house type of person. I think of weird things like all that stuff taking up coveted garage space 11 months out of the year.
My parents used to live on one of those streets that everyone decorated yards, houses, dogs and cats. During the holidays a steady stream of traffic poured through the neighborhood to take it all in.
Certain streets gain reputations for decorating fervor. Every town has one. I’m just not wanting to live in that neighborhood. Burgundy lane in Alexandria, Virginia for instance is the home of every inflatable Christmas decoration ever made.
One by one the houses in our new neighborhood began to decorate. It started with our neighbor to the left us. The pressure began to build as husband after husband armed himself with lighted electrical wire and climbed a tall ladder.
I told the kids if one more house gave in and decorated that they (the kids) would have to staff a 24 hour living nativity in our front yard.
And now our neighbor to the right of us has gone and decorated his house.
The kids are not going to be happy.
6 Responses to “Decorations”
We live in one of those neighborhoods. I continue to hold out. “Overdoing it” would be an incredible understatement for some of the houses around us. A few years ago, one neighbor had 32 of those little fake reindeer on his front lawn. These are NOT big lawns. 32 of ‘em.
E-Cecil is the main Christmas decorating man of West Cocoa. Maybe he can tell you about his Christmas decoration contest with his neighbor.
Peace.
I’m tempted to apply the honorary label of “Scrooge†to you until I think about (as you said) the attic space my Christmas decorations take up as well as the pain involved in getting them all down and then putting them back up in my attic.
But I can’t help myself! I love to decorate my house during Christmas.
As the Puckster can attest to, I royally ticked off my neighbor across the street when we first moved into our home some 9 years ago. Being the eager “Clark Griswold†I decorated my home first. My next door neighbor quickly advised me that I had ticked off “Arnold†across the street because he always decorated his home first in our circle.
Arnold owned his own transmission repair shop in Cocoa. The next day when I saw him outside his home he yelled from across the street, “Just want you to know that me and my boys (some of his workers) are coming back here today to add 1000 lights.â€
We ended up being friends but he wouldn’t hesitate to tell me, “Hey, some of your lights are out.†See what you’re missing Scrooge, I mean Randy.
We live on one of those streets in Long Beach. Only it starts one block north of us. This year I let it be known early on (late summer) that I was not putting up outside lights this year. I’ve kept my promise.
You all just live in the wrong neighborhoods! Here in Northeast Portland (i.e. the ‘hood), I see nary a green or red light or plastic reindeer in any direction. We’ve gone overboard for this area with our brightly lit tree in the window - hope it doesn’t get shot.
I’m with Kristi. There’s a tree visible in our front window. That’s it! A few houses are decorated up and down the street but nothing elaborate. A few blocks over, there’s a street that really puts on the dog, but they are far enough way, they have no impact on my street.
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