Deck the Halls!
Dec 2nd 2008
Suzanne EnochMy Life As A Plebe
I’m in the process of digging out my Christmas decorations – the light-up snowman who sits on the porch beside the two light-up penguins (yes, I know penguins are Antarctic animals, but they don’t), the lights for the eaves, the Christmas tree and ornaments, the cinnamon-scented candles, and the fake poinsettias.
I know some stores decorated for Christmas the day after Halloween, and while my sisters and I used to have a contest every year over who saw the first Christmas commercial on TV, we gave up when they started airing before school started in the Fall.
Which leads me to my question – is it possible to overdo Christmas? Down the street from me one day the lawn was green, and then the next day it was white, covered with blinking candy canes, red, blue, green and white Christmas trees, a small herd of grazing white deer, a pair of trains where the lights make it look like the wheels are turning, and ice skating Peanuts characters. All on one lawn. Individually the various items are cute, and even pretty, but all together it kind of looks like the holidays barfed all over the front of their house.
Maybe I’d feel differently if the snow had been real and not big rolls of cotton sheeting, or if it was 40 degrees outside instead of 80. But I don’t think so. I mean, I like to decorate, but to me Christmas is a soft, twinkling holiday. A huge volume of decorations makes it feel…strident, hard – like if you show up at their front door you’d better have gingerbread cookies and eggnog on your person. Kind of the “I’m having fun, dammit” variety of holiday.
Am I wrong? Is it the more the merrier where decorations are concerned? Do you decorate? Which holiday/s should you not decorate for? (And yes, as you can see from the photo on the right, someone apparently decorated with mating reindeer.)
45 Comments »
SheridanLA on 02 Dec 2008 at 12:56 am #
I definitely think there is a limit… though there is always that one house that is out of hand and serves as an alternate guide for the airplanes.. all the people go by to gawk - and you know they take it as “wow - they really LOVE it!”
I am decorating for the first time in a long while.. I am excited.. though it is all inside, since I am in an apartment and my little patio would only benefit my immediate neighbors.. huh.. might still do it!
As far as any holidays not to decorate for… as long as things are done in moderation, I say have fun… course, there is that ONE HOUSE that goes insane for all of em.. I just wonder who has to take it down/put it up and where they store all the crap off season.
and I would totally be the one with the mating reindeer in the front lawn.
Margaret on 02 Dec 2008 at 2:07 am #
I used to hang a few lights outside and call it good. Christmas tree went in front of the picture window, of course. Lots of lights there. Now? Nada a bulb or tinsel.
I think there must be a line between cute and over-the-top decorating. Not sure exactly where it is. Unfortunately, around here, people go nuts. There is a house around the corner who decorate front, both sides and back yards. Yet, I sort of like it. No music please.
I never heard of decorating for anything but Christmas & Halloween till I moved here. They hang plastic Easter eggs on trees outdoors for crying out loud. They spend gosh awful amounts of $$ to make Easter baskets for their kids/grandkids. And give presents. Huh? There isn’t a holiday I can think of where someone doesn’t decorate their yard for it. Some even keep their lights hung all year and change bulbs according to the holiday. R/w/b for the Fourth, orange for Halloween, green for St Pat’s Day. Etc, etc.
LisaK on 02 Dec 2008 at 4:56 am #
Mating reindeer? That’s rather… *shudder*
Well, as for decorating - the illuminating stuff isn’t that popular in Germany, anyway, but a few years ago people started to talk about Americans having that and how cool it would be to have it, too, and now there are some more but definitely not sohohooo much.
I have to admit, I don’t like it overly. We’ve had a little Christmas tree on our porch the last years with fairy lights, but that was it. I mean, we decorate, but not with shining things - instead we put home-made stars and angels and such things on the windows and desks or so.
Our neighbour who lives in the flat above ours seems to thing differently - he has the whole sortiment on his balcony: a sleigh, a Santa, two or three reindeer, a star and a tree. And most of it is shining green. Yes, green. Stark green.
It hurts the eyes, really.
Judy F on 02 Dec 2008 at 5:45 am #
I am with the less is more crowd. I love the lights and the yards decorated but not the ones where every spare inch is covered. There is a house near me that has a tiny tiny yard and every piece of available space has something in it. It just looks tacky. Though there are a couple of people that do have a lot in their yards but they pull it off better. I think its because it flows better or has a theme.
I don’t get the ones that have a huge inflatable Homer Simpson next to the nativity scene.
Kathy/Cookiedough on 02 Dec 2008 at 7:08 am #
My friends and I go drive around the city looking for decorated homes. just before Christmas.
It’s a blast to see who has gone overboard with it. there is actually a website I found a few years ago called Ugly Christmas lights
and I can see by some of your pics, you found the site too
some of them are a bit overdone, but for the most part they show a family really having fun with the holiday so who can blame them for that?
Susan M on 02 Dec 2008 at 7:18 am #
You can definitely go overboard on the Christmas decorations. I like just enough to get me in the holiday spirit but not enough to make it look gaudy.
cail on 02 Dec 2008 at 7:56 am #
i think the whole season is a bit over done!! especially when it starts right after halloween. i even saw xmas decorations BEFORE halloween for sale at target.
i don’t mind the occasional overdone house… they were super fun to look at when i was growing up.
at my house we’re starting all sorts of new traditions. i think this coming weekend we’re going with the DH’s mother to get trees, after which we’ll have to decorate. all of our decorations are miniature since they were for the tree i had in NYC- which was about 2 feet tall and alive. that’s going to be interesting for sure!
Shashi on 02 Dec 2008 at 8:13 am #
i love the christmas season, i think it’s really nice to have a “special” time of year (I’m not too big on celebrating any other holiday that much)
I am a huge fan of christmas lights tho, they make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, like a kid again!
Sabrina Jeffries on 02 Dec 2008 at 8:35 am #
Count me in among the “you can’t overdo Christmas” crowd. Although, as the years go by, I do tend to prefer less tacky arrangements. But back when Al Copeland (founder of Popeye’s fried chicken) was alive in New Orleans, he used to do this huge display at his house all in lights, with reindeer and santas and palm trees (!) made entirely of lights, and we went every year to look at it. It was so shiny! I like shiny.
Fortunately for our neighbors, I am too cheap and too busy to decorate my own lawn thusly. Because believe me, if I had the energy and time to put whirligigs on my lawn, they would be there. Instead, we have two cedar trees we wrap with white lights and five bushes in front that we put light nets over. Oh, and a wreath. That’s the sum total of our decorations for Christmas outside.
Inside, we-e-ell … let’s just say I get a little carried away.
Sabrina Jeffries on 02 Dec 2008 at 8:36 am #
Oh, and thanks for giving me my laugh for the day with the “mating reindeer” crack!
SuzyQ on 02 Dec 2008 at 8:56 am #
For my own house, I just like the white lights on the bushes and icicles on the roof. Oh yeah, and the white snowman that has twinkling lights that sits in my flower bed. No other lawn decorations. Now my neighbor has every inch of his lawn covered with the blow up things. No lights - just blow ups. That I don’t care for.
But I have to say I do like to see the houses with thousands of lights. There is one on the other side of town that had an extra electrical service put in just for the Christmas lights. The cops have to direct traffic because so many people go there. They have Santa on the front porch talking to all the kids, they give out cookies and candy canes, and they have a little desk where the kids can write letters to Santa and then clip it to a clothes line where it gets pulled up to the roof and dropped in Santa’s sleigh. My kids look forward to that house every year.
JudyPatooty on 02 Dec 2008 at 9:26 am #
Oh yes, it is very possible to overdo the decorations! (Especially when it takes the form of mating reindeer!!) LOL!
Back when my nephews were little, I used to go with them to drive through some of the neighborhoods that went all out. It was a big thrill for them, looking for “Ho-Ho” as they called Santa Claus.
But I wouldn’t want to go to all that work!
I’ve got two cats and learned quite a few years ago not to even bother putting up a tree because in no time all of the oranments would be under the sofa and I’d enjoy the dubious pleasure of seeing silver tinsel hanging out of the kitties’ backsides. (My apologies for that mental image!)
My decorating now consists of a few scented candles, a couple of stockings hung over the fireplace and a wreath on the door.
Kay on 02 Dec 2008 at 9:35 am #
I thought I’d seen awful decorations before, but the mating reindeer are over the top.
We usually have real snow and icicles, and the squirrels chew through the electric cords to lights. We have a wreath over the front door, swags under the lights on the garage and two greenery arrangements in pots by the front door.
The tree went up on Sunday.
Now that it is cold enough, we will start freezing buckets of water. When the bottoms and sides are frozen, you break the top and pour out the remaining water, tip out the ice, and repeat. Eventually you have enough to line the driveway for Christmas eve. That’s when you pop in the candles. We reuse them on New Years Eve.
I agree with SheridanLa, where do people store all of these decorations? The only decorating we do for Halloween are carved pumpkins. No outdoor decorations the rest of the year.
Karen Rose on 02 Dec 2008 at 9:50 am #
Suzie - we generally put up our tree at Thanksgiving, but haven’t put up any outside lights since we moved to FL. We had an outside outlet that couldn’t support the added load of lights without blowing the fuse to my office. We always said that when we got it fixed, we’d go crazy with outside lights.
This year we got it fixed, but when November came, DH looked at me and said, “I don’t want to bother with the lights. Do you?” I said, “No.” And that was that.
But the neighbors have a sleigh pulled by alligators (wire ones). I’ve always thought that was so fun. I want a set of wire, white-lit alligators for my front yard. It would go with all the lights strung around the palm trees, LOL.
Julia London on 02 Dec 2008 at 10:51 am #
I am not a big decorator at all. I didn’t even know people decorated the inside of their house for Halloween until this year. I never had Christmas decorations at all, but now I have a little boy who asks me every day where Santa Claus is (he can’t grasp the North Pole concept. This morning I told him Santa was at the store, and he seemed to be satisfied with that), so I think this year will be different. We’re putting up a tree. I’ll see what else I can figure out. But nothing outdoors — I don’t have any outdoor stuff and I’m not buying any!
Suzanne Enoch on 02 Dec 2008 at 11:06 am #
LisaK, it’s interesting that the outdoor lights are considered an American thing. I thought everybody did it! I love the idea of decorating with homemade things — we all have some homemade ornaments we made as kids that mom has been slowly doling out to us, and those are the most precious to everyone.
Suzanne Enoch on 02 Dec 2008 at 11:08 am #
Ah, Julia, you say no outdoor decorations, but I’ve seen your future. I suggest buying lights right after Christmas, when they’re on sale. *g*
RachelG on 02 Dec 2008 at 11:11 am #
What does it say about me that I like the mating reindeer?
I always decorate inside and out. Mr. g just brought all the boxes from the storage shed and we bought a twelve foot tree. I think I need more lights.
rachelg
Suzanne Enoch on 02 Dec 2008 at 11:23 am #
JudyF, I think you’re right. If the house has a theme, the large number of decorations don’t seem like such a…mess.
Louisa Cornell on 02 Dec 2008 at 11:36 am #
You might be a redneck if you have mating reindeer on your lawn for Christmas.
I live in the middle of nowhere so my decorations are just for me. However, I DO put lights in the trees outside. And my Christmas tree has a theme each year. I have several sets of ornaments all boxed up according to theme. I have a Victorian set, a teddy bear set, a dogs and cats set (of course), a birds set and a music set.
I already have all of my singing stuffed animals set up as they drive the dogs and cats nuts.
There is a guy in our area who allows people to drive through his extensive property every year so long as they bring a canned good. He has light displays that would put some major cities to shame. Gorgeous lighted fountains, trees of lights, running carousel ponies, you name it.
And the town has a progressive Nativity and luminaria in which all the businesses and churches participate. The Nativity is amazing with real animals - sheep, dogs, cows, llamas and last year we even had a camel.
Claudia Dain on 02 Dec 2008 at 11:49 am #
I love all the lights! But only for Christmas. I guess it’s because it’s what I’m used to. One of our Christmas traditions is that we go out on Christmas night and drive through neighborhoods looking at the Christmas decorations, Christmas carols playing on the radio. The kids, all big grown-ups now, still love it. We oooh and aahh over the biggest display of lights, the most creative lawn scenario. And then come home to our house, which is only average on the decoration scale. Every year one of the kids says as we pull into our driveway, “We need more lights.”
For my family, there are never enough lights.
elsiehogarth on 02 Dec 2008 at 11:51 am #
I have always decorated, for Christmas, during the Thanksgiving weekend. Due to it being a long weekend. I need the time to check if the lights work, what ornaments are broken, what other decorations am I throwing out in order to see what I need to buy. I stopped decorating outside because it was just too much work. So I just decorate inside through out the whole house even the bathroom with the Santa toilet seat cover, rugs, toothbrush holder and cup.
Suzanne Enoch on 02 Dec 2008 at 12:01 pm #
Kay, so you end up with ice cups to hold your candles? That sounds so beautiful!
dbrown3400 on 02 Dec 2008 at 12:38 pm #
The Christmas season begins for me when they turn on the Christmas Star above the Senior Center across the street from my apartment building. I can see it from my window when my blinds are open. I can see the wreaths on Main Street from another window. I also love Christmas lights on houses in various neighborhoods. Some are quite beautiful although so far, there have been no mating reindeer.
My apartment is small so I just have a small artificial tree with silver and mauve decorations — not quite traditional. We always had a large fresh tree; I miss that.
Kim on 02 Dec 2008 at 12:54 pm #
I’m kind of in the middle here. The more lights the merrier, I say. But you can definitely over do on the decorations. My dad and step mom’s house always looks like a Christmas elf puked everywhere. Every square inch of their tiny house is covered.
Personally, we never do outside decorations. I doubt they would last an hour before some kid was stealing or breaking them. Inside we have the tree and I have some knick knacks sitting on the entertainment center and one shelf with a nativity scene.
NOW, if I ever get a really nice aka big house I would love to have a room where I could set up one of those awesome Christmas villages but it would have to be up all year. I’m far too lazy to take it down and put it back up.
Julia–listen to Suzie.
Kim on 02 Dec 2008 at 12:55 pm #
Suzie–do you put santa hats on the storm troopers? Elf vest on the giraffe? That’d be so cute!
Karen Hawkins on 02 Dec 2008 at 1:01 pm #
I went to a house in Tampa that was COVERED in lights. Literally. And they let people walk through their ‘winter garden’ which consisted of a bunch of plug in plastic snowmen and such. Very tacky. Very weird. And at the end of the ‘winter garden’, right beside a whirling electric meter, was a canister for donation.
I’m thinking they must be making a killing off of that. Otherwise, who’d bother?
I love lights and holly and a tree and such, but I’ve seen some people get so wrapped up in trying to have ‘the best’ Christmas, that they don’t really have Christmas at all … if you know what I mean.
I do love some of the artsy decorations, though. The sculptures and little villages are gorgeous. I just don’t have room in my house or attic to keep ‘em!
Karen Hawkins on 02 Dec 2008 at 1:03 pm #
Btw, I had a rabbit once that would sneak under the tree and try to eat it — and would always pull it down on himself. It’s a bit of a shock, sitting in your living room when the tree begins to sway, sway, SWAY — CRASH!
Not pretty.
Claudia Dain on 02 Dec 2008 at 1:07 pm #
Karen, that’s it exactly. I drive by these houses with tons of stuff on display and can only mutter, “Where do they store it?”
Of course, that’s me all the way. Every time DH comes home with something, like a 17 gallon can of olive oil or a 4 pound container of clothes detergent, I always say, “Where am I supposed to put *that*?”
Where things go. It’s how I roll.
Kim on 02 Dec 2008 at 1:16 pm #
Oh Karen, speaking of naughty animals. Last night Max decided it was time to play in the tree. Its been up for 2 weeks and he hasn’t even looked at it. URGH! Naughty cat!
Suzanne Enoch on 02 Dec 2008 at 1:18 pm #
Kim, I put a Santa hat on my giraffe, and I’m the proud owner of a snowglobe featuring Darth Vader building a snow Death Star. *g*
During the off season my holiday stuff goes into my hall closet, except for the tree and the snowman and the penguins, which go in the garage. I have no idea where I’d put more stuff — it would start crowding out my action figure boxes. Ahem.
Lisa H on 02 Dec 2008 at 2:39 pm #
I’m in the “You can’t overdo Christmas” camp. I love Christmas, my decorations go up the week before Thanksgiving. I love the sparkle and the smell of the Chrismas Tree. I put candles out all over and light them at night. We play Christmas music when we can and watch all the Chrismas shows. We don’t do alot outside, but we do have some lights and wreaths.
Margaret on 02 Dec 2008 at 2:40 pm #
Kay, I love the ice lights. We can’t count on it staying cold enough to keep them for long.
I’ve always loved the Southwestern tradition of luminarias on Christmas Eve. I did that one year back when I had a big house and everybody came there on Christmas day. It was a lot of work but it was so pretty. My DH had his stroke the next summer. So, that was my one and only venture into luminaria making. When a whole neighborhood does it, it’s stunning.
Margaret on 02 Dec 2008 at 2:42 pm #
Claudia, I live in a mobile home. My mantra is where the heck am I going to put (fill in the blank)? I belong to Costco but never get the mega-pack of toilet paper or other goodies like that because there is no ^#$#@@ place to store it!
Suzanne Enoch on 02 Dec 2008 at 3:01 pm #
We usually put up our decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving, too. It sometimes seems that the whole holiday layout is designed for that. This year, though, we all helped my sister move that weekend, so now we’ll have four houses to do this weekend. It somehow seems easier when we all help at each other’s houses rather than just concentrating on our own.
Sabrina Jeffries on 02 Dec 2008 at 4:26 pm #
Must … have … Darth … Vader … snowglobe. Where did you find THAT, Suzie? I want one!!!
You know, I’d love to have one of those little villages, but I really have no place to put it. It would be cool though. I like the little villages.
Suzanne Enoch on 02 Dec 2008 at 4:44 pm #
LOL, Sabrina. I’ve been looking, but I’m not sure it’s easily available anymore. If you want to see one, try
http://x-entertainment.com/updates/2006/11/26/the-darth-vader-snow-globe/
I think I got mine from http://www.entertainmentearth.com , if that helps. *g*
Janae on 02 Dec 2008 at 6:30 pm #
I like seeing the lights and displays, etc, but at my own home, less is more. I always wonder how people with a ton of lights get their children to sleep with all that light. They must have really good black out shades/curtains.
I have to admit that it’s kind of hard to get into the Christmas season in SoCal after growing up in MT. It just doesn’t feel the same here. I just got off the phone with my mom, and it was snowing there. I miss the snow to an extent. I love the way the lights look, reflecting off the snow. It’s just not the same off the grass. Or faux snow.
Nicole Jordan on 02 Dec 2008 at 6:58 pm #
Oh, yes, it’s definitely possible to overdo Xmas decorations! Too much looks tacky to me.
But the decorating you goddesses have described sound lovely!
Claudia Dain on 02 Dec 2008 at 7:14 pm #
Margaret, LOL. Exactly, we use BJs and when DH comes home with that 36 pack of paper towels…!!
Kim on 02 Dec 2008 at 7:24 pm #
I love the 100 roll pack of toilet paper
Suzanne Enoch on 02 Dec 2008 at 8:14 pm #
And at Costco you can also get the 50-piece pack of tree ornaments. *g*
Yasmin on 02 Dec 2008 at 8:37 pm #
i love to see houses that are truly decorated, not like mine with only window clings ( neighboring kids dont respect) and a feww lights. I guess you can go overboard but usually that happens when houses dont have a sort of theme to it.
evlqn on 02 Dec 2008 at 11:03 pm #
We are of the clear lights outside and themed decorations inside type people. This year it is a woodland theme with many birds and such.
Our artificial trees look great in the front yard. We are still working on the porch. We had to fix a heated box for the cats to be in when we are not at home. One of our snarky felines is about 20 years old now, we are unsure exactly how old because she was abandoned by her previous owner. We have had her nearly 6 years now and she was in her very late teens when we got her. The cats love hiding behind the trees on the porch and still having a warm place to sleep. We went out to get more of our decorations out of storage and our blasted car finally committed suicide on the freeway.
Our loan company told us to go find another and they will figure out how to absorb the outstanding amount on the loan without us paying more.
Anyway, back on topic, be as tacky as the traffic can bear withyour decorations. We plan on eventually having about 40 or 50 artificial trees in our front yard, so far we are up to 10 trees. And one animated deer, the other was stolen last year.
evlqn on 02 Dec 2008 at 11:12 pm #
Have you seen the tyrannosaurus rex at Costco?? He is so cute, if I had a spare $250.00 and the place for him I buy him for me. Love Costco.