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Christmas decorations done and overdone

By Meg | December 24, 2007

My husband and I have both been super busy this month, but last night my husband finally got our tree out of the attic and set it up. Tonight we hope to decorate it with our purple ball ornaments and pastel butterflies. We’ve got a few other things up now, some lights around our living room window, holiday candles on a table, and our two stockings hung on purse hangers. Every year we’re reminded that’s quite enough for us, but a look around the neighborhood shows that a lot of families like to go all out.

Just in our immediate neighborhood, a few houses are entirely covered in lights and at least two families have giant snow globes out in their yards. Most of it doesn’t look too bad. However, we’ve seen some places where holiday cheer looks more like a seizure waiting to happen or worse, an explosion of kitschy vomit.

Now, I don’t dislike Christmas lights. They can be quite pretty, and it’s nice to have a sign of the seasons when the temperatures are still in the 70s. However, I don’t understand why some people spend so much money and so much time to fill their yards with what then looks like crap.

It’s yet another example how less is more. One set of matching reindeer is cute. Three sets is visually confusing and tacky.

Then there’s consistency. Some nice matching lights is nice. Covering your house in strands of mismatched colors, difference shapes, and different blink speeds rarely looks nice at all.

Getting into the spirit of the season is fine, but easy does it. Like flashy fashion, it’s harder for people to appreciate the details when there’s too much going on. You don’t have to buy every cute decoration you see. You don’t even have to put up all the decorations you have. Better yet, donate some decorations to a thrift store like Goodwill. Now that’s sharing holiday cheer!

I’m not trying to be a decoration snob, but I can’t help feeling proud of our simple decorations and carefully planned tree — especially when I start tallying what others have likely spent on their Christmas scenes.


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