Deck the Yards.

The neighborhood is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas. There can not possibly be an lighted wire deer in a store within 20 miles of my home. In fact, deer seem to be the theme this year. There are several homes with the plywood 'puzzle' deer (assembled by sliding pieces in slots, slide apart to store flat) there's a gathered twig deer a couple doors down, some log and twig deer on the main road and of course the ubiquitous lighted wire variety. One home has at least 7 of them. A herd in the center of the yard, a couple by the house, and one on the little porch roof in front of a sleigh.

Another popular fave is the wreaths hanging on the outside of every window. This was the main choice in our old neighborhood, but there's a couple of houses in the current homestead as well. Love those after a big wind. There's bows and wreaths everywhere, second only to lightup wire deer.

Then there's the candle in the window folks. A very popular look. In fact the access road to the main road has a house that lights 'em year round. Personally remembering all those plugs is too much work for me. 'Sides I don't have the window sills for puttin' stuff.

I'm a colored light person myself. Living in a white light neighborhood. White lights just don't seem all that festive to me. In my little 'hood, the white light houses outnumber the colored lights by about 4 or 5 to 1. The ratio has actually improved this year as there are suprisingly fewer of the cheesy fake icicle lights. Not that I have a problem with the quality ones carefully hung, but most folks have the cheepies that zigzag down from the roofline like little lightning bolts. I don't really think that was the look they were going for.

We've got couple of anal retentive homes with the lights in a perfectly spaced line along the gutter. Bunches with lights randomly looped on the shrubs. One or two with lights on the fencing. At Greencamp we've got the acrophobia look - looped around the front door and the garage doors, but nothing on the roofline. Designed for me, because I'm the one that has to hang 'em. I also have net-lights on the shrubs. Easy on, easy off with nice anal retentive spacing while they're on there.

They're on when we get home and off when we go to bed. I imagine after the holiday our attention span will wane and it will be somewhat less regular. Right now, I like getting home last so that the boys will already have the place lit up when I get there.

TTFN.