Christmas light displays out of control, or am I a scrooge?

[Gyro Widget]

"I know that holiday decorations didn't cause those events. But it's the point that our electric industry is blatantly inefficient, so why test it, you know?"

I've noticed that many people are moving toward using the LED Christmas lights and they burn next to no electricity. 

But we still have a lot of people like my father, whose hydro bill increases by $100 in December (and his lights are only on from between Dec 20th to January 2nd).  He has a life sized Santa and sled, with 9 not-so-tiny reindeers, a life sized "Santa's Workshop", with a massive Nativity Scene.  On top of that there are heavens knows how many strings of lights on his house.  Its cheesy to say the least.  I think those homes with just a couple strings of lights look better, but its all a matter of opinion. 

[Cupcake Fiend]

We put out one strand of white icicle lights on our front porch.  We would do more, but there is no point.  Our neighbor across the street puts out every light up figure you can imagine...from a santa sled with 8 reindeer that he suspends in midair, to the light up plastic nativity scene complete with hay, to the 16 other santas.  There are also light up candy canes, snowmen, nutcrackers, christmas ornaments, and lights everywhere.  And at least four of the huge inflatable light up things.  One year those were on the roof but he seems to have given up on that idea.

I wouldn't mind it at all if he would just do a good job with it.  But everything is kind of haphazard and that annoys me.  Thing 1 and Thing 2 adore it though.

The guy on snopes with the musical display had to stop doing it because of traffic complaints in his neighborhood.

[Venus193]

4 million lights?  The mind boggles!   

[Oxymoroness]

You'd never want to live next door to this guy:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp

You know, after reading the entire article he doesn't sound like a bad guy. At least he worked out a way to hear the music privately and eventually moved his display because it became to much of a nuisance.

He might be a tad over-enthusiatic but at least he took note of the problems he caused the neighborhood and fixed them.

[Chibikoky]

Um...we're one of those houses. Townhouse, actually.
We have candy canes with lights strung between them, a lighted arch, two projectors, a giant american flag, net lights on the bushes, rope lights on the trees, plywood cut outs we painted (two toy soliders, mr. and ms. snowman, and a 4-piece train on stakes, as well as "merry christmas" "season's greetings" and a no L sign (think a no smoking sign but with an L in it instead of a cigarette. No L. Noel. Hee.) held up by velcro, a lighted banner with a star, snowflakes, candles, tulips...all light displays. Not to mention the spotlights to light up our cut outs. And the music. It takes about a day to put up. I'll take a picture when we get it up this year.
However, we have a parking lot seperate from the street. If someone is goggling at our lights, they should be in the parking lot. And they go on when it's dark, and get turned off before bed, usually about 10pm. (The music usually goes off earlier.) On Christmas Eve we usually leave it up longer because people do take tours of the winning light displays in our neighborhood, but music still goes off.
On the plus side, it's pretty easy to give directions to our house after it's all up. 

[Betsy]

OK - call me SweedeScrooge - but what a waste of electricity!    
...
I know that holiday decorations didn't cause those events. But it's the point that our electric industry is blatantly inefficient, so why test it, you know?

We can hope that the people with the huge decorations are also the ones smart enough to use LED strings so that they only use 4% as much electricy as regular bulbs and dont put any extra pressure on the electric grid.

[baconsmom]

I love huge light displays, and I actually wish we had more Christmas spirit in our neighborhood. I totally wouldn't mind people driving through to see lights - because it would mean that instead of racing through my 'hood at 40 mph with their bass thumping so hard it rattles my windows, they'd slow down and turn down their ridiculous "music" and leave me in peace for five minutes.

Also - most of those displays get turned off at 10pm, which is well before my bedtime.

[Venus193]

At least he worked out a way to hear the music privately and eventually moved his display because it became to much of a nuisance.

I read another article about him which said that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra comps him wherever they are because his display got them into the beer commercial.

That's coolness.

[Cupcake Fiend]

I read another article about him which said that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra comps him wherever they are because his display got them into the beer commercial.

That is awesome!!  I've only gotten to see them once, and I loved it!

[Lisbeth]

I happen to like Christmas lights myself, but in moderation.

I can't stand displays where every single window is outlined and there are Santas, snowmen, and "Merry Christmas" messages all lit up.  Last night I took a cab from my office in Manhattan to my home in Queens by way of the Long Island Expressway and as we passed the Lefrak City Apartments I noticed that they were covered with such lights.  Ugh.

I do like displays where:
1) The lights are small and multicolored (more than three)
2) They are on the eaves and shrubbery only
3) There are no messages written in lights or figures

[Chartreuse]

If it's well done, I salute who did it.  If it's over the top simply for the sake of being over the top, it comes across as tacky.  There's a difference between planning out your lights and coming up with something attractive and well thought out than sticking up a million twinkle bulbs all over the place.  I guess this makes me a snob of some sort.   

[Bethczar]

I guess this makes me a snob of some sort.   

I guess I am too, then. I like a well planned, organzied display, not something with Christmas items scattered randomly around the yard like you're having a rummage sale.

My favorite display ever was one lighted (non-evergreen) tree in the front yard of a big house. It was a large tree, and all the individual branches were wrapped in white lights. It must have taken forever to do - there were hundreds of lights - but it was so simple and beautiful shining in the night.

[kingsrings]

POD to both of you, that is the kind of display I like as well. I also hate it when some of the decor is not Christmas-related at all. I have seen giant cut-outs of dinosaurs and Loony Tunes characters as part of Christmas displays.

[JoyinVirginia]

Yep, you're a scrooge!
Of course, I live near Richmond VA which is the home of the Grand Highly Illuminated Tacky Xmas Tour!
To take a look at some of the town's finest, check out this link from a local TV station: http://www.nbc12.com/abouttown/holidayhomes/
And here is the link to the local paper with stories, photos, and video! http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/HTMLPage/RTD_HTMLPage&c=HTMLPage&cid=1031779455900
Take a look and enjoy!

And tomorrow night is the James River Christmas Boat Parade! With highly illuminated and decorated boats, started by one guy who decorated his boat 20 years ago!
Joy in Virginia

[Venus193]

I'd love to see TSO live, but they're going to be out on the island and I don't drive.