He's got balls
This is why we don't bother to do much holiday decorating. Not because we think it's tacky, or care about the waste of energy, or deplore the commercialization of Christmas—none of those reasonable objections pertain.
No, it's because we have a neighbor who has set the bar so high anything we did would look paltry. (Of course, he sets it for himself as well.) Unfortunately, I don't think I can capture the red lights too well, but those are strung lavishly around his steel B, and fall in a curtain over the side bay windows. The balls around the door are an annual feature, and this year some imposing, um, icicles (?) have been added. It looks best at night. (I just don't think I can get the shot.)
I think Martin demonstrates that holiday decorations can be fun, creative, and cool.
Oh well! Guess we'll put our little candles and icicle lights (so passé) in the windows again.
Comments
It's not so much the elaborateness of today's ornaments but the ready-made, factory-style look that I find a little sad.
When I was young my dad built a two-piece wreath of masonite for the front French doors, covered in plastic holly leaves and with bunches of outdoor-style bulbs for "berries" that were lit at night. He added things like candy canes and elf figurines from time to time. I was always very proud of my father because he built his own outdoor holiday displays; one year we had a stuffed Dracula for Halloween, another year a witch, with those great old plastic cutout masks for faces, and we often strung "spiderwebs" with rubber spiders.
I miss that.
tea
xo