Shedding Some Light

 Tonight we took a ride around the county to look at Christmas lights.  It was quite soothing.  The whole family loaded into car with travel mugs of mulled cider.  Christmas tunes were on the radio.  We were ready.

I’m always impressed with the lengths and efforts people go to when decorating their homes with lights.

Some go the subdued route — with single candle lights in each window.  Possibly a lighted wreath above the door.  But otherwise the only lights are coming from a Christmas tree inside but perfectly framed in a window.

The next step up is those who get more aggressive with the number of lights, but stick with a single color (like white).  Some are icicles, some frame the roof line.  Very tasteful.

Then we move on to the inflatables.  Some are classic, some are cute, some bring favorite Christmas characters to the scene in 3-D.  When fully inflated, these are fine.  The problem is that they don’t always stay inflated.  Then you’re left with this big flaccid condom on your lawn.  And nothing says Christmas more than a big flaccid condom, am I right?

From there, we quickly slide into a category that can only be called “excess”.  If every part of your lawn, porch, roof, etc. is covered with assorted Christmas detritus, you have to ask yourself if this is still about Christmas?  When your decorations are so bright that they can be seen from space, you need to wonder.

Are these people competing in a competition for the “most” decorated house?  Not “best”?  Complete overstimulation does not connote “best”.  A few of these houses were so over-the-top, my daughter described them as a “cacophony” of decorations. 

I tried not to think about how much electricity these houses were using or how much money all of these decorations cost.  Maybe next year, instead of investing in eight lords-a-leaping, how about making a donation to a charity?

That’s it.  I’m done complaining.  Merry Christmas to all!

Frosty