I have two distinct feelings toward Christmas lights and decorations. On the one hand, I love how it lights up an otherwise ugly time of year and gives a festive and cheerful mood to the dark season. On the other hand, I think some people go WAY overboard with these decorations and lights. A while ago I used to work at an old folks assisted living center and I’d take the residents out to see some of the lights. I have definitely seen the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of decorations. Last night we took a few pictures and a video of the Christmas lights and decorations in Greeley, Colorado. Enjoy, (and cringe) like we did 🙂
The Extent of Our Christmas Lights (on our banana tree)
The Good: DownTown Greeley lit up
The City of Greeley is trying to revitalize the downtown area, and while it is certainly beautiful, still not many people are there to enjoy it.
The Bad: Just imagine how wasteful this is on energy (not to mention a nuisance to neighbors)!
It is just ridiculous! It has over 70,000 lights and is programmed to be played -some are synchronized music and lights- to music that you can tune into in your car. There were like 30 cars just idling watching the lights and listening to music. This family calls themselves the “Greeley Grizwalds”. I would have to agree that they are just about as silly as the family in that Chevy Chase movie. It’s kind of cool, but definitely WAY over the top. It won the award for best decorated house in the local light contest. They won’t tell anyone how much their electric (energy) bill is, but I am sure it is wastefully high.
Here’s another video of it I found:
The Ugly!
This one has got to take the cake for being the most crass. Not even a block from the last one, this one tried to out-do it only with inflatable Christmas decorations. Every inch of the yard was covered in this balloon-like toys. (You may need to click on them to fully “appreciate” it.) It was crazy! Well, whatever floats your boat, or in their case, everything that floats.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Pretty garish and unreal. What is the meaning of Christmas, anyway? Christ was probably born in the Spring, and those following him took over the pagan festival Saturnalia and tacked on his birth story. In today’s world, Jesus would have been an itinerant preacher, perhaps a homeless man, helping others, or someone in an organized religion or help group (Salvation Army?) preaching peace, love and care for mankind. He probably would be as disregarded today as he was in his time I think. The American Indians revered Jesus and were punished for it, because they believed in his true message of love for one another, selflessness, honesty and honor (a good read on this topic is Neither Wolf nor Dog by Kent Nerburn). Since Cassie is a “blood” (part Ojibwe/Cree) she may find this interesting material. So who brought in the merciless, selfish commercialism of the holidays? I say we just love one another and all of mother earth, that is hard enough to do, and if we spend Christmas practicing this, we will be better people for it.
On another note, we LOVED your music. My favorites were the frank lyrics and vocals of America Boy, the lyricism, musicality and originality of Incubus , the fun and catchy Es por Tiiiii by Juanes, and Shakira’s voice. Lots of humour and originality in all … uplifting and a great way to start a new year! THANK YOU and Happy New Year!
Thanks Annie, very true. And I am glad you liked the music! Happy New Year to you as well.
i love driving around near christmas and checking out all the lights. i am always amazed at how far some people will go to decorate their house. i can only imagine what their power bills look like once january and february come around.
Wow! I like outdoor Christmas decorations as much (probably more) than the next guy, but some of these pics are crazy. My Dad used to do it right: only white lights up in the front yard.
Thanks,
Jay