Sunday, December 5, 2010

Advent Calendar: December 5



(This is post 5 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com)

Prompt: December 5 - Outdoor Decorations
Did people in your neighborhood decorate with lights? Did some people really go "all out" when decorating? Any stories involving your ancestors and decorations?

We lived on a hill and had a yard that--to me as a kid--looked like a jungle. That made traditional decorations impossible. We did have strings of those old big, painted glass Christmas light bulbs running along the front and back of our roof line. Do you remember those lights? You could scrape the paint off them and they were hot to the touch.

My dad set up the back Christmas lights so they turned on and off with a light switch. At some point, they lights just stayed up all year and acted as patio lights.

The neighbor at the top of the hill used to line his whole house in white Christmas lights. He even had a big tree made of a pole and strings of lights. Because of the location on the top of the hill, you could see that all-white house from far away. I always liked that.


(This post was originally published December 5, 2009)

3 comments:

  1. I've got that front yard! Lovely picture imagining watching the lights down the hill.

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  2. Oh I remember those lights - and I also remember getting in trouble for trying to scrape the color off!

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  3. When riding in the car, I enjoy decorations I can see for a distance. I still follow until I can't see it anymore.

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