Published by Deborah on 18 Dec 2005 at 10:24 am
One of Our Traditions
My husband and my oldest son have established the tradition of decorating our house with Christmas lights the day after Thanksgiving. I’m not sure when this started, perhaps when he was about three or four. When we were living in our rental, he would string lights along our overhead cabinet and across the beam that separated the dining room from the family room.
Each year since my kids were toddlers, my husband and I would take them for a long drive to look at all the light displays in our neighborhood. Some houses had a simple string that lined the eaves while others went all out with spectacular displays, depicting Santa or snowmen. The kids were enthralled and insisted that we go at least one more time before Christmas Day.
This year, I took the boys out with my sister-in-law and her boys (and my mother-in-law). They just turned three, so it feels like I’ve stepped back in time a bit, since mine are so much older. My sister-in-law found some neat displays in the paper, and we went out to see those.
One was a neighborhood effort in Willow Glen. The first house had a sleigh sitting in their front yard, while four our five consecutive houses had giant reindeer gracing their lawns. Words can’t adequately describe this, so I’ll have to drag out my old digital camera and go out there again so I may post a picture. I’d better do this quick, as Christmas is almost here.
Chris Howard on 18 Dec 2005 at 6:50 pm #
Great tradition. We’ve been lazy this year, and December has ripped right by. We still haven’t put up lights on the tree in the yard, something we did at the beginning of the month last year. We have a blue spruce near the street that has a great natural Christmas tree shape, begging to be decorated, and I’ve been ignoring it. And the lights look great with snow on the branches, which is what we have right now.
Is that Willow Glen in San Jose? I have good friends who live there. I used to get up there all the time. I lived in Morgan Hill for years. Now I’m on the east coast and I can only reminisce.
Merry Christmas!
Deborah on 18 Dec 2005 at 7:41 pm #
Yes, that is Willow Glen of San Jose. Morgan Hill is a hop, skip and a jump for me, thanks to the new freeway they built in the early 90s. Wow. Again, this is a very small world.
Lee Pletzers on 19 Dec 2005 at 12:56 am #
There was a neighborhood effort not far from my work for the last several years. I just learned about it, but this year someone complained and it was stopped. Apparently, the road was jammed during christmas time from all the sightseers and most people didn’t care about the property owner and tossed cigarette butts and cans on lawns as they walked past taking photos and commenting on how beautiful everything was.
It was just too much trouble to continue it.
Please take some photos. I’d love to see them.
Deborah on 19 Dec 2005 at 8:17 am #
“. . .most people didn’t care about the property owner and tossed cigarette butts and cans on lawns . . .”
Man, that sucks. Why do people have to be like that?
We’ve had two very elaborate displays: one guy who decked his Victorian house to the hilt in the Willow Glen area and another who had a fantastic train display several blocks from where I used to live.
The former hurt his back recently and was only able to decorate his front lawn. So the traffic in that area was at normal capacity. In years past, it would draw thousands of people to the point where the SJPD would have to direct traffic.
The other guy lost his job and had to move away. This devastated the neighborhood kids because they loved that train setup. But this other family has picked up the tradition, although it isn’t as nice.
Yes, I will take some pictures for you guys to see.
S. L. Cunningham on 19 Dec 2005 at 1:58 pm #
Deborah,
What better way to build memories with your children than by celebrating Christmas in all its splendor. When my son and daughter were three and two, I used to drive them all over to look at displays of Christmas lights. Thanks for coming by, Scot
Deborah on 19 Dec 2005 at 3:04 pm #
I sometimes wish that it snowed here, just so my kids could experience the beauty of a White Christmas. But just last year, I was reminded how cold snow is.