Every December, neighborhoods all across America come alive with Christmas displays both large and small, and far too many of them these days tend to lean a little too much towards the large side.
It seems like every street has two or more families that are bound and determined to “out-decorate” all of their neighbors, resulting in a perennial Christmas-style “arms race” which ends up turning their block into Al Gore’s worst environmental nightmare by the time December 25 rolls around.
Well, in my neck of the woods there is one house in particular that deserves the “gaudiest display of the year” award. Although their lawn is about the size of a tennis court, they have enough blow-up Santa’s, snowmen, and reindeer packed onto it to fill up a soccer field. Why, you can practically see the street lights dim when they turn on all those lights and blowers every evening!
Now this is just my opinion, but when it comes to Christmas decorations, less truly is more. I would much rather see a house and lawn tastefully decorated with a candle in each window and a simple manger scene, and perhaps even a tastefully done “Christmas Tractor” than a million lights strung all over the place to light up the bloated plastic figures that cover virtually every square inch of some lawns.
But this is America of course, and as the old saying goes, “To each his own!”. But I can’t help but wonder if our nation hasn’t become more interested in celebrating “the season” than the birth of our beloved Saviour.
