Christmas light Extravaganza!!!

For the first time in a long time, the spouse and I decided to go out and look at Christmas lights in the neighborhood. Most of the people in our part of town do it up big time so there is usually quite a bit of traffic which is why we don't usually join in, but this time - what the heck....so off we went. And you know there were several interesting sights:

Of course the fact that they give holiday hayrides through our streets is always kinda neat...until you get behind the wagon hauling people slower than my bulldog walks. It is a pretty red wagon that hauls probably 25 people and is drawn by mules - who couldn't seem less thrilled. As we rolled along at the speed of smell, I couldn't help but notice how unusual the lights were from years past. Only a few years ago, you'd drive down these streets and see perfect displays with matching lights and colors. Now it seems people are more into the real spirit which is : do what makes you happy. Every house seemed to have a mish mash of colors, flashing lights and Christmas figures. Its kind of like when you let your three year old dress herself - quirky, cute, but wouldn't win any contests. I liked it - perfection is so overrated anyway.

One of the yards was decked out completely in purple which was very unusual but there was something about the lights that made your vision blur - almost like an epileptic seizure coming on. Kind of a "Gee that's pretty, too bad you can't look at it". Down the street from there was a house with some sort of scene on the roof. At first I thought it was just mounds of snow, but it turned out it was supposed to be snowmen...the spouse thought they looked like Ninja turtle snowmen. There was a house up the street from ours that had four huge wreaths hanging in a line at the street - very cool looking.

Of course we also had to swing by Steve's house. He is one of those guys who has the full on, 100,000 light display set to his own radio station so you can watch the lights perfectly timed to the Christmas tunes. When we got close to his house, of course it was like grid lock....spouse used a term with the word 'cluster' in it. I thought it was interesting how most of the houses around him didn't even do lights and I guess I can see why....I'd just enjoy his too!

All in all, I think its proof that people don't really take appearances all that seriously anymore and that, in my mind, is a very very good thing....Merry Christmas!