Keeping your neighbors in mind when decorating

A few days ago, I saw my boyfriend’s next-door neighbor sitting on the roof of his house. My… A few days ago, I saw my boyfriend’s next-door neighbor sitting on the roof of his house. My initial thought was that he was fixing a massive hole in the roof that was bringing in extremely cold weather or something equally important, because it was about 9 o’clock at night and freezing outside.

Through the darkness, I realized that he wasn’t fixing anything, but in fact, he was putting up his Christmas lights and decorations. With the passing of Thanksgiving, it dawned on me that it was now that time of year when I would drive somewhere and see nicely lit up houses with reindeer on the lawns signaling that the yuletide holiday was just around the corner.

There are many people in Oakland and all over the world who participate in this yearly tradition of adorning their homes with Christmas decorations. Some put up their decorations right after Thanksgiving passes, some a little earlier and then there are those who have their Christmas lights up from 1987 and they’ve never gotten around to taking them down.

My family has never been one to get into the holiday spirit. The most decorations we’ve ever put on our house were homemade snowflakes and canned snow. Although there are times when I wish we did get more involved, there are some people that go a little over the top with their holiday cheer.

Although there are only a few houses in my neighborhood that even bother to put up decorations, they can still be problematic. One house leaves their lights on 24 hours a day. I don’t mind the total waste of energy used for lighting up Rudolph’s nose and I can ignore the fact that a fuse might blow and set the whole neighborhood on fire. The only time I care about the lights is when I’m trying to go to sleep and I see nothing but blinking Christmas lights flooding my room because my house is across the street from Light Up Night!

Another one of my neighbor’s houses looks like a televised Christmas day parade was held in her front yard. The houses in my part of town aren’t that big, and it’s hard enough finding your way to her door, even without the 10-foot, blow-up Frosty the Snowman blocking your way.

From top to bottom, this lady’s house is filled with the holiday spirit – and then some. On the roof of her house, she has Santa on his sleigh and somehow managed to fit all nine reindeer from Dasher to Rudolph. She must have more than 5000 lights covering her house, which, when lit up, can guide me home like the North Star. Along with the gigantic Frosty, she also managed to squeeze in a little manger scene complete with Joseph, Mary, the baby Jesus, a few lambs and the Three Wise Men.

There’s nothing wrong with sprucing up your house with a few icicle lights and maybe even a candy cane or two on the front lawn. But we must remember that our homes are not display windows for Kaufmann’s in Downtown Pittsburgh. We don’t need to see every aspect of Christmas on a measly little 5 by 5 plot of land.

It may be your house to decorate, but sometimes all the decorations, lights and Christmas characters hanging out on the lawn look cheesy and tacky. You also have to be considerate of your next-door neighbors. Although you may see it as a peaceful and serene view of a Christmas celebration, your neighbors are praying that if your decorations do catch on fire, the sparks don’t jump onto their property.

So remember, less is more. Instead of going all-out with your holiday decorations, try a little moderation, because it can go a long way. And please, if you are going to put up millions of lights, at least have the decency to turn them off at night, some of us are trying to get some sleep.

To find out how much Duquesne Light paid Jennifer to write this article, e-mail her at mjk18@pitt.edu.