Christmas displays and holiday lights are “an invitation to come over and have a pleasant chat,” one reader told us in response to our informal Block Talk survey. “They’re a nice icebreaker to help people develop cordial relationships that continue.” (Shutterstock / yhelfman),
ACROSS AMERICA — Zip it.
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Whatever you may think of your neighbor’s Christmas displays and holiday lights, it’s not necessary to utter every single thought that pops into your head about their personal taste, their prospect of going into debt to pay the electric bill or the merits of a sacred versus secular display.
That’s the bottom line for several readers in response to our informal survey for Block Talk, Patch’s exclusive neighborhood etiquette column. We asked, What do you actually think of your neighbors’ Christmas displays?
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“I love them,” Doylestown (Pennsylvania) Patch reader Martha told us. “Since I was a child, it has been an annual tradition for our family to fill a Thermos with hot chocolate and drive around and look at the lights.
“Now I go with my grown son and his children,” Martha said. “I love the creativity and the excitement of the families who light up and decorate their homes for others’ enjoyment.”
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Concord (New Hampshire) Patch reader Michele used capital letters and triple exclamation points to practically squeal in joy over her neighbor’s holiday decorations. “LOVE IT!!!” she wrote.
“I love the community spirit and holiday spirit that holiday decor brings,” she said.
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“I love them,” Tinley Park (Illinois) Patch reader Nick said. “My house currently has 6,000 lights and 200 blow mold figures outside, so I am ‘The Christmas House’ on the block.”
Coral, a Dacula (Georgia) Patch reader, also loves the various ways her neighbors decorate their homes and takes cues from them. “I love to decorate and am inspired by neighbors’ displays,” Coral said.
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“The lights are such a beautiful sight,” said a Huntington (New York) Patch reader with chill neighbors. “Nobody around me cares” if people decorate or if they don’t, the reader said.
Norristown (Pennsylvania) Patch reader Barb also is all about letting people do their own thing at Christmas.
“I love them, It makes the neighborhood feel like Christmas. It’s beautiful,” she said.
Her neighbors aren’t all fans, though. Barb said she feels “pressured” to tailor her decorations more to their liking.
“One neighbor says it’s too many lights,” Barb said. “We should not allow our neighbors to change how we feel about the holiday. Put up your lights and enjoy.”
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The people who live in this small house in Wisconsin may have decided to “go big or go home” with their holiday lights. (Patch file photo)
Carolyn, an Across America Patch reader, is a minimalist when it comes to outdoor holiday decorations.
“I think too much is tacky and obnoxious. Too much isn’t always a good thing,” Carolyn said. “I like simple, coordinated displays.”
A Christmas Confession
We asked readers if they ever feel pressured to go along with decorating in neighborhoods competing among themselves or for a community’s “best holiday lights” destination. Cash prizes are sometimes involved.
Nick, the Tinley Park Patch reader, has a confession. He didn’t get in their faces over it, but still, “I’m the one who pressured them, I think,” he said.
“When we moved in, almost no one had lights out. Over the years, more and more neighbors started putting them up,” Nick explained. “I never asked, but I think they thought they had to.”
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Each year, Nick’s display is bigger and brighter.
“There are about 6,000 to 8,000 lights sitting in the basement along with another 150 or so blow mold figures,” he said. “There are also about 30 animated figures that go in small houses that also go out.”
Although “it does feel at times like people try to outdo each other,” Doylestown Patch reader Martha said, she doesn’t feel pressured to compete.
“I can’t say that happens, but they have worried I might fall off the ladder and have offered to do it for me. I politely decline,” Martha said. “A few red bows and evergreen boughs on the porch railing are enough to show I’m in the competition in spirit.”
Brent, a Tampa (Florida) Patch reader, likes that his neighbors go to great lengths to light and decorate their homes.
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“They’re an invitation to come over and have a pleasant chat,” he said. “They’re a nice icebreaker to help people develop cordial relationships that continue.”
Brent does feel pressured to get in the spirit and festoon his own house.
“But you handle it the way you do in any other situation you either don’t want or can’t afford to participate in. Be polite, but don’t feel like you have to back down,” Brent said. “If they want to get their nose out of joint about it, that’s on them.”
‘I Have To Look Away’
A few people threw shade — or would like to.
Old Town Alexandria (Virginia) Patch reader Tom thinks the meaning of Christmas is lost under the glare of bright holiday lights.
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“Would someone tell me what stringing hundreds of twinkling lights has to do with the birth of Jesus?” Tom asked. “People have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas, and it makes me deeply sad and worried for their souls.
“Christmas isn’t a carnival,” he went on, “but it looks like one with all the secular decorations.”
The people who live at this house in Wisconsin celebrate the birth of Jesus with their outdoor lights. (Patch file photo)
California Patch reader Paul thinks his neighbors are following some unwritten rule that every inch of the property has to be covered with something that twinkles, dances to music or looms large.
“It’s so gaudy that I have to look away,” Paul said.
So far, he has kept his cool. He feels pressured to go along, though.
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“I haven’t yet slipped a gummy in the cookie tray to calm them down, but I’m thinking about it,” Paul said.
Editor’s note: Careful there, Paul. Cannabis may be legal in California, but that’s crossing the line between passive contempt and full on criminal activity. And we’re pretty sure it would land you at the top of Santa’s naughty list.
And speaking of Santa, he and Mrs. Claus, who claim to be Foxborough (Massachusetts) Patch readers, show how it’s done (mostly).
“Who are we to say what our neighbors can and cannot display?” Santa asks. “Do we love the glaring white lights that shine in our bedroom:? No. But we have blinds. Do we think some of the displays redefine tacky? Yes, but their house, their tastes. What is Christmas if not a season for goodwill toward others?”
This is where Santa goes sideways: “We’re coming for them at Halloween, though. Lol.”
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But for now, “Mrs. Claus and I wish everyone a peaceful, joyous holiday season,” Santa said.
(Shutterstock)
About Block Talk
Block Talk is a regular Patch series on neighborhood etiquette — and readers provide the answers. If you have a topic you’d like for us to consider, email [email protected] with “Block Talk” as the subject line.
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