When it comes to Christmas decorations, nobody does it better than our American cousins. But it is the way they decorate their houses at Christmas time that makes the festive season so special.
This task takes place usually on the weekend after Thanksgiving Day, when they have celebrated with their families on the Thursday and have spent all their money at the sales on Black Friday. On the Saturday and Sunday - yes it normally takes two days - they start to decorate their houses and front lawns with lights and all manner of inflatable Father Christmas’s, snowmen, toy soldiers, candy canes and nodding reindeer.
Every house seems to want to out do their neighbours and every year we notice that their decorations get large and larger and ever more elaborate. I suspect they add more lights every year as they can afford them but I would hate to have their electricity bills in January! Electricity is already very expensive in America (more than twice as much as in the UK) but after all those lights at Christmas the bills must be astronomical.
We have seen full size nativity scenes on front lawns, toy trains full of toys and small people, toy soldiers and of course lots of angels. All their trees are lit up and the houses have icicle lights hanging all round them from the roof and the guttering. Candy canes in red and white stripes sit alongside reindeer wearing red Christmas bows round their necks and huge snowmen, some as tall as six feet, with their woolly hats, scarves and carrot noses, look down on them all.
Some of the houses with pickets fences have them lit up too and have red bows hanging from them and the houses with front porches have some of the most elaborate of all: they have lit Christmas trees with parcels round the bottom of them by their swinging hammocks and rocking chairs.
If any of you have seen the National Lampoons Christmas Holiday film you will now what I mean!
Every year we come to our villa here in a residential area and take a drive round all the side roads and take pictures of some of the best of them, we have even taken a video of the streets to take home to show our amazed friends and family.
This task takes place usually on the weekend after Thanksgiving Day, when they have celebrated with their families on the Thursday and have spent all their money at the sales on Black Friday. On the Saturday and Sunday - yes it normally takes two days - they start to decorate their houses and front lawns with lights and all manner of inflatable Father Christmas’s, snowmen, toy soldiers, candy canes and nodding reindeer.
Every house seems to want to out do their neighbours and every year we notice that their decorations get large and larger and ever more elaborate. I suspect they add more lights every year as they can afford them but I would hate to have their electricity bills in January! Electricity is already very expensive in America (more than twice as much as in the UK) but after all those lights at Christmas the bills must be astronomical.
We have seen full size nativity scenes on front lawns, toy trains full of toys and small people, toy soldiers and of course lots of angels. All their trees are lit up and the houses have icicle lights hanging all round them from the roof and the guttering. Candy canes in red and white stripes sit alongside reindeer wearing red Christmas bows round their necks and huge snowmen, some as tall as six feet, with their woolly hats, scarves and carrot noses, look down on them all.
Some of the houses with pickets fences have them lit up too and have red bows hanging from them and the houses with front porches have some of the most elaborate of all: they have lit Christmas trees with parcels round the bottom of them by their swinging hammocks and rocking chairs.
If any of you have seen the National Lampoons Christmas Holiday film you will now what I mean!
Every year we come to our villa here in a residential area and take a drive round all the side roads and take pictures of some of the best of them, we have even taken a video of the streets to take home to show our amazed friends and family.