So many words so little time

Since I blog VERY infrequently (and more infrequently as of motherhood), I have a plethora of blog topics to pick from today:
1. Little J's 10 month birthday (which is tomorrow) and all of the milestones we have encountered as of late
2. Being on shopping restriction - and in Christmas season, no less
3. Reading BITTER IS THE NEW BLACK (which sort of coordinates with #2)
4. Crazy people I work with
5. Crazier people I teach
6. Christmas lights in our neighborhood

And while I will try and write on all of the other things later, I think tonight's topic will be #6: Christmas lights in our neighborhood.

First of all, I should preface by saying that I LOVE Christmas. And that includes pretty much everything about it - from the Baby Jesus to Rudolph to gift giving to shopping to Frosty to the Grinch to Advent - and the list goes on . . .

I also LOVE Christmas lights. I love to drive through those neighborhoods where everyone decorates (except there's always that one house where the humbugs live - ). But I guess that in my own neighborhood I am a bit of a Christmas lights snob. And I really thought that the neighborhood we moved into kinda had that "Christmas lights snob" code as a part of the neighborhood association rules. What I mean by "Christmas lights snob" code is that lights should be uniform, tasteful, mostly white lights. No chasing lights, blinking lights, dancing lights on crack, etc. If you want to add a Santa or some reindeer, just not too many. Those big inflatable things are fine (and I LOVE the carousels btw), but each yard should only have one. And they need to be tastefully placed and tastefully lit as well.

But apparently the neighborhood watch is letting a few things slide. For instance, recently some people moved in on the next street over. They have replaced the white lights in the globes on either side of their garage with red and green lights. Sorry - not lights - one of each - one red, one green. I feel like I am looking at traffic signals. Gradually they have added other things, too. I think the most recent addition was a wreath with red blinking lights.

Worse than that are our next door neighbors (who are not really people we know anyway - so I am not really criticizing my best friends or anything -). And here's what makes them worse. They have an IMMACULATE yard. I think they probably spend a lot of time (when they aren't mowing or edging or planting) wishing that we weren't their neighbors. I imagine that they spend a lot of energy trying to keep the weeds on our side of the property line. How they do this, I am not sure, since there is no real partition or fence there. But all of that is not the point. The point is, currently their IMMACULATELY coifed yard is host to the following: a neon palm tree (yes, a palm tree, and NO it is not there year round, and NO we do not live in LA), animatronic white wire reindeer, lights thrown up in one tree (colored) (and by thrown up, I mean they look like someone got drunk and threw them into the tree), lights on their bushes (white that blink), and one conical "tree" form that has the outline of lights on it (always about to fall over, btw). One or two of those items might be ok IF they did something plain and uniform with the rest of the decor. But all of it together?

I know, I know, earlier in this post I was the one who mentioned Baby Jesus and Rudolph in the same sentence. So I should understand and support integratation of holiday ornamentation. And I DO, just not close to home . . .