Xmas Light Wars and/or Christmas Light Competitions

Posted At : December 13, 2006 8:01 AM | Posted By : SJNG
Related Categories: Rants

Click any photo to view 40 pictures of these two homes.

You've seen it before. You're driving home from work during the Christmas Holiday season. It's dark and it's dreary. From a distance you see the faint glow of light... a lot of light. As you get closer, you make out the silhouettes of thousands of Christmas lights. As you slow down and come to a stop, your jaw drops in astonishment. You see two homes, with neighbors working either as partners or as foes, in a Christmas light competition vying for your adulation.


I was driving home a couple of weeks ago when I first saw this. It reminded me of the famous scene from 1989's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. (Need I remind you of the scene?) It also reminded me of the recently released movie Deck the Halls. While the later movie can't hold a candle to the classic Christmas Vacation it does once again bring to the forefront the notion that families are crazy about Christmas Lights and everything related to Christmas.


All of this Xmas craziness brings up a few questions that I wish I had the answer to. How much time/planning is involved in achieving the end result? How expensive is it to purchase these items? How can you physically plug in all of these lights with just a handful of household electrical outlets? How do you position the lights on a roof (so they stay) or so high up a tree? What is cost to run all of these lights per month? Do you get visits or calls from your local fire department telling you that all of your hard work is a fire hazard? Where do you store them once the Holiday season is over?


Don't get me wrong... I definitely enjoy looking at Xmas eye candy... it just seems like a lot of work. If you would like to send me pictures of Xmas lights (or wars) near you email me at blogs AT typedhype DOT com. I'll be more than happy to add them to this blog post. You can view all of the photos of the two above homes by clicking here.

Finally, this post wouldn't be complete if I did not mention a few related Christmas Light Competition (or just plain over the top) web sites. The first two links below use the Google Maps API to populate the data. What's really useful about Bronner's My Christmas Wonderland is that many entries include a photo. Very cool.

- Decked Neighborhoods - from the Decked The Halls official movie web site.
- Bronner's My Christmas Wonderland
- Vancouver Trinity Street Xmas Lights Competition 2005

Addendum: If you ever wondered How to Properly Photograph Christmas Lights, then click the link. :)

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Halloween Rules to Live By

Posted At : October 31, 2006 7:50 PM | Posted By : SJNG
Related Categories: Rants

This year, Halloween was mentally trying in South Jersey. I observed several Halloween faux pas that need to be addressed. In no particular order... these are my not so innovative Halloween rules to live by for 2006. And really, I'm not a grumpy old man.

1. Articulate three simple words when you first come to my door. They are, "Trick or Treat." Those words are an integral part of the holiday, aren't they?
2. Take your garbage with you. As I write this, Halloween isn't even over and I've already picked up 3 soda cans, 1 candy wrapper and 1 Hi-C juice box from my yard. Last time I checked, I wasn't part of the public waste management system.
3. Don't ring the door bell 5 or more times if I don't answer the door within 10 seconds. I'm not deaf; I'm just not as fast as I was when I was your age.
4. Don't complain about the candy given to you. I was amazed to hear a trick-or-treater actually mumble under his breath how he felt about what I gave him. (When did M&Ms go out of fashion?)
5. If you are a parent watching your children as they go about their business and I say "Hello" or wave to you... it is common courtesy to acknowledge my greeting.
6. Don't slam the door knocker if one is present. See point #3 above.
7. Don't go trick-or-treating with an iPod in your ears. It just makes communication that much more difficult.
8. Say, "Thank You" when you are given candy. Is that too much to ask? Several kids could not even muster those two words.

That's it. I wish I had noticed 10 things. That would make for a catchier blog title. Oh well, feel free to add some of your pet peeves if you like.

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