Tacky Lights Soap Box

A production company is coming to Virginia tonight to do a TV special on Tacky Christmas Lights.  It won't be in our exact area, but they could make a wrong turn and end up on our street!  Linda still hasn't taken a photo of the house blasting the music over the loudspeakers yet and the bazillion lights.  There is also a street near out house that draws crowds from many miles away.  Since at least when Tier and Taylor were little, maybe longer, the entire street bans together to go all out and decorate. Traffic creeps bumper to bumper down the side street as Christmas draws closer.  There are live carolers and even visits by Santa!  One special house on the way home from her Tuesday night class has lighted dinosaurs, flying pigs, 3 or 4 of those life size snow globes, a train, moving reindeer and of course, the mandatory trillion lights all over the house.  These are a few examples I found after searching "tacky Christmas lights"

Everyone is entitled to their own decorating style.. yay! for America.  You can go over the top crazy or just hang a wreath on your front door.. or even do nothing and still love the Christmas reason/season.  The confusing thing is our homeowners association stance on curb appeal.  Linda got a little warning that her pine tree wasn't shaped properly and some of the honeysuckle next to the retaining wall was growing a bit wild. She had 30 days to fix the problem or the HOA police were planning her a visit.  How can they write her up for that, but allow someone to clutter (hoard really) a tractor trailer load of  plastic Christmas decorations and leave them on their yard and house for 6 weeks?

OK, we'll get off the soap-box.  There must be a reason deep in Linda's subconscious that causes her to overreact with the whole decorations thing.  If it makes people happy to decorate and they are not as crabby, sad or depressed as they might usually be.. it's OK.  If it stresses them out trying to get everything up, to look better than the Jone's or become full of pride that they beat the Jones... then it's probably better just to go with the beautiful wreath and chill-out.  Some people actually love decorating and it doesn't involve any added stress, competition or angst.  It just a hobby they enjoy that brings back happy memories or traditions of old. 

One year Tierney surprised her and chopped down a live Christmas tree and bought it to our house!  After Linda spending a lot of money to buy a stand, lights and decorations..she had to admit it was kind of nice turning all the lights off and just sitting in the glow of the tree.  She gave everything away after, even the fake tree from CVS that she would put up when the kids were little.

We do have one Christmas decoration in our living room.  It's a collection Linda's mom started giving her when she was younger. Maybe Linda should give it to Penny and start buying her another Precious Moments figure every year?

For some reason, Mary is missing from the set. Where is she?  Linda will have to look in the storage box again.