My neighbors, across the street are aiming to win the $75 neighborhood prize for the best Christmas lights. In a 55 community, $75 might buy the early bird special once a week for at least a month. Last year they received an honorable mention so this year they are going all out. The eaves of the roof are gracefully draped with white lights. The trees in front are covered in colored lights for contrast. In the driveway is a large inflatable Christmas tree that has flashing strobe lights inside it. At the base is a lighted choo choo train. It took them several days to get it all perfect and it's quite a dazzling display.
Down the street, a guy puts a projector in his driveway every night to make it look like it's snowing on the front of his house. He packs it up every morning so he can get his car out of the garage. This is Florida so I give him an A+ for the illusion of snow when it's 80 degrees outside. I think he may also be in it to win it.
Moving a few doors down, the effort of lights starts to deteriorate. The strings of lights fit tightly along one side of the roof and hang sloppily over the other. Hanging lights is a hard job especially from the top rung of the ladder you bought in 1974 and refuse to get rid of even though it wobbles just the slightest little bit. Soon I come to the house with one of those lighted reindeer. I always liked those. The sparkly animal looks as if it's grazing in the front yard. And in this case it really is. Its nose is only inches from the Halloween pumpkin that took its place in the garden somewhere around the beginning of October.
The lighted wreaths I hung on the garage lights and the front door, won't win any prize. I know that the judges won't even give my house a passing glance. But the rest of the neighborhood is having its own little version of the television show, The Great Christmas Light Fight, and it's over a lot less than the 50 grand being given away for the best lights on the show.
Every night there's a traffic jam of sorts while cars stop to admire the handiwork even though there isn't any computer generated light show set to music. The cars finally dissipate when lights go off at about 9 pm. Most of us are in bed by then. A spike in the electric bill is a concern too. Hopefully the $75 will cover it. The losers may have to pinch their pennies well into the new year. But if the pumpkin lasted this long I'm betting it will still be around long after the Christmas lights have been packed away until next year. And it didn't run up the electric bill.
Merry Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!
Down the street, a guy puts a projector in his driveway every night to make it look like it's snowing on the front of his house. He packs it up every morning so he can get his car out of the garage. This is Florida so I give him an A+ for the illusion of snow when it's 80 degrees outside. I think he may also be in it to win it.
Moving a few doors down, the effort of lights starts to deteriorate. The strings of lights fit tightly along one side of the roof and hang sloppily over the other. Hanging lights is a hard job especially from the top rung of the ladder you bought in 1974 and refuse to get rid of even though it wobbles just the slightest little bit. Soon I come to the house with one of those lighted reindeer. I always liked those. The sparkly animal looks as if it's grazing in the front yard. And in this case it really is. Its nose is only inches from the Halloween pumpkin that took its place in the garden somewhere around the beginning of October.
The lighted wreaths I hung on the garage lights and the front door, won't win any prize. I know that the judges won't even give my house a passing glance. But the rest of the neighborhood is having its own little version of the television show, The Great Christmas Light Fight, and it's over a lot less than the 50 grand being given away for the best lights on the show.
Every night there's a traffic jam of sorts while cars stop to admire the handiwork even though there isn't any computer generated light show set to music. The cars finally dissipate when lights go off at about 9 pm. Most of us are in bed by then. A spike in the electric bill is a concern too. Hopefully the $75 will cover it. The losers may have to pinch their pennies well into the new year. But if the pumpkin lasted this long I'm betting it will still be around long after the Christmas lights have been packed away until next year. And it didn't run up the electric bill.
Merry Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!
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