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I was starting to think I was the last person around here to keep the tree up til Jan 6th!!!
No Ani, you are not alone, lol!! We start taking the tree down after the 6th in my house. (We've been known to leave it up all year, but that's a different story).
We even have a routine with our Nativity. The baby Jesus does not go in it until Christmas day. On Christmas Day, the 3 Wisemen appear at the front door & make their way around the house until they arrive at the Manger on the 6th.I know, we're a little wierd here, lol.
My 1st tree is finished. Looks like it stepped out of a 1950's living room. Some of the lights are done outside. Today, we're taking a road trip to Christmas 365.
Hey, Rosie!!! Your tradition w/ the Nativity is wonderful and really . . . that is the way it should be done, especially when there are children who can follow the story - it is so much more meaningful. Nothing weird about it at all - seems very appropriate and a neat way to observe Christmas!
Brian got a thread started for pix so I hope we will get to see some of your decor when you get everything finished up!!!!
Southerners white lights, subtle. Yankees -- freakish. Rednecks -- sad.
Trained my daughters at early age to pick out the Yankees by their garish, over the top decorations. We would ride down the street and they would say, "Yankees, Daddy."
Living in Maryland, there was a house, decked out, in blue. Glowed on the horizon. I initially thought we had bought near a nuclear dump site!
Subtle, people, understated elegance.
LLN
LLN - I'm a Yankee and have always decorated my house in white, understated, elegant lights. It's what I like. Has nothing to do with being a Yankee. You seem proud to have taught your daughters to stereotype in this way. I am saddened by this post.
IN: candles on each front window of your house. A wreath on the door.
OUT: plastic electrical deers, multicolor lights all over the yard, huge inflatable Santa’s, penguins. This is not FL people.
LLN - I'm a Yankee and have always decorated my house in white, understated, elegant lights. It's what I like. Has nothing to do with being a Yankee. You seem proud to have taught your daughters to stereotype in this way. I am saddened by this post.
Well, I know LLN wrote that . . . but the truth is . . . there has traditionally been a big difference in how people use lights here as opposed to many other areas of the country. In the Midwest, it was all colored lights and very few houses w/ only white lights. I also noticed that the NJ and PA branches of my family - their neighborhoods were very brightly decorated - lots of outdoor displays and colored lights.
In the 80s, when someone from the NE moved into our neighborhood, the first Christmas, they would inevitably do very bright decorations, meaning, lots of colored lights, things like big candles (red/yellow), huge lit candy canes . . . etc. Or big blue lights all over everything . . . Their houses stood out like sore thumbs and so by the next year, they would have toned it down - meaning - white lights (no colored lights) and very few outdoor displays. So truthfully, all the neighbors (including other newcomers who had "learned" the style of the neighborhood themselves) would chuckle (not in a mean spirited way) - that you could drive thru/ the neighborhood and see who the new Yankees were who had moved since the previous Christmas. The neighborhood was very hilly, so you could see houses all over, and the white lights looked so pretty at nite - but the colored lights (or all blue or all red lights) looked kinda odd.
Most neighborhoods now . . . the colored lights are very popular. My DS says that the large bulbs are retro looking and he loves the colored lights w/ big bulbs. I still like the tiny white twinkling lights, but I do have to agree w/ him - the colored lights are very festive and show up so well when lining a roof top of a house, for ex.
I think the main thing is to have fun - especially if you have kids. And the personality of your neighborhood will dictate some of that.
IN: candles on each front window of your house. A wreath on the door.
OUT: plastic electrical deers, multicolor lights all over the yard, huge inflatable Santa’s, penguins. This is not FL people.
I guess this means I should not go for the lighted pink flamingos.
I guess this means I should not go for the lighted pink flamingos.
All in moderation. Maybe the flamingos can go to the back yard during Christmas. A house in my block has so many lights on the yard and windows that it looks like a night club.
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