Do you resent your neighbors who don't put up outside decorations? (Raleigh: homeowner, title)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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Do you resent your neighbors who don't put up outside decorations?
Well......NO!!! I live back in the woods, can not see the lights of our closest neighbors, why would I care if they do or do not put up lights and other decorations. This country is made up of more groupings than just the christians.
I don't think I notice the houses that aren't done. I do appreciate the ones that do, though. It's nice that people take the time to brighten up the place during the darkest time of year. The only ones I have taken notice of are homes that used to do it up pretty big, but then stopped doing so. I always wonder what happened there (I would have noticed if the place was for sale during the year!). So, I agree with PP, if you don't want to do it, best not to set a precedent. Do just what you want to do and that's what your neighbors will expect from you in years to come.
Yes, people who don't decorate for Christmas bug the heck out of me! How DARE they???
I march for hours in front of those unadorned homes, and when they don't cave in, I decorate them myself with rolls of toilet paper I buy from Sam's Club. I usually go through two or three large containers of Scott tissue every season. After it rains, it sort of looks like snow. So THEN they have decorations, now, don't they?
If they still have the audacity not to decorate with white lights, I go in the middle of the night and install in their yards any lights I can find from my shopping exploits at Dollar Tree. I also paste Santa Claus cutouts on their front doors and hang stars from their trees. Each year, I spend several hundred dollars on Christmas decorations at Dollar Tree for this very reason.
Don't they know the REAL MEANING OF CHRISTMAS???!!!
LOL! This whole scenario reminds me of John Grisham's book "Skipping Christmas" (made movie "Christmas w/ the Kranks"). The book is great, the movie much lighter & quite funny. The neighbors basically blacklist the couple for not putting their neighborhood life-size blown-mold Santa on the roof or hosting their annual neighborhood festivities.
As for other's displays, it does not bother me if they don't put them up, but I sho do enjoy a good display!
Did you ever drive out to see the Cross house years ago (near Enloe HS on New Bern Ave. to see the his Christmas displays? I always thought his display was in the best taste of any I ever saw.
My mother grew up in Longview Gardens in the 60s and I remember fondly as a child going to my Grandmother's on Christmas Eve and everyone piling in the car after dinner to ride through the Cross's display. I remember the speakers Mr. Cross set up throughout the yard that played Christmas music. Such a magical time in my life. Thanks for the flashback!
We dont put up any Christmas lights because we dont celebrate it. By the same token we dont have a lit Menorah in the window either Resent or annoy is not in our dictionary when it comes to the OP's question. To each their own. If you really want to fit in with the nabes ,try gertting to know them on a level thats less superficial.
Lots of gaudy Christmas decorations generally identify the homeowners as Yankees. I don't hate Yankees (I used a capital Y) but they just don't know better. It is ok.
Possibly it was my cultured southern upbringing, but a single tree decorated in white is about as gauche as acceptable. White candles in windows, are de rigueur, however.
Doesn't matter to me, but I will never get over the new guy, from New Jersey, that bathed his house in blue lights. If Jimi had seen it, one of my favorite songs would have had a different title.
My mother grew up in Longview Gardens in the 60s and I remember fondly as a child going to my Grandmother's on Christmas Eve and everyone piling in the car after dinner to ride through the Cross's display. I remember the speakers Mr. Cross set up throughout the yard that played Christmas music. Such a magical time in my life. Thanks for the flashback!
I'm glad you and RaleighLass had the chance to see them while they were here. The Cross yard was really special indeed....I have yet to see anything that can compare to it.
I loved Longview Gardens. I didn't live there, but many of my school friends did. My parents were among the founding members of Longview Methodist Church, and I spent my summers as a kid on the old Longview baseball field(now the site of Longview Pool) The area was my old stomping grounds...lots of great memories
To each his own when it comes to decorating, but for those who get frustrated with the folks who take too long to put up or take down decor....some of us have a really good excuse! I felt terrible this year that it took me 2 weeks to get our Halloween stuff out of the bushes but I had pneumonia for a month so it was a struggle to get 'em up and down. I am sure some neighbors who didn't know I was sick were thinking what the....but hey, it's just decorations in a yard... So many more things in the world to put energy into (sorry for the pun Griswold fans) than worry over lights and decor. I think I may actually get my christmas lights out today so I'm making up for my slowness after Halloween!!
P.S. Lights tip: If you get the lights from BJs or big box stores on sale after the holidays, don't put them away 'til next year! Check them right away because I had some that I bought last year wherein half the string is dead and I just found out now!! Two of 3 boxes had this problem so just a tip so you don't get stuck too!
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