Decorations! WHEE! I know, I know. More decorations? YES! This is America! We don’t stop decorating until every INCH of the house is covered in glitter, lights, garland, ornaments, figurines, etc, etc, etc. And when I say every inch, I mean every inch! We change our hand towels to Christmas towels, our hand soaps to Christmas soaps, our candles to Christmas candles, our rugs to Christmas rugs, our blankets to Christmas blankets, our clothes to Christmas clothes, our jewelry to Christmas jewelry, our music to Christmas music so even the air is Christmas-decorated. :p
But that’s not all!
(All of you non-Americans reading this are probably going ‘oh. my. goodness. you’re insane.’ Why yes! Yes, I am! And I’m not done! :p)
Not only do we decorate the insides of our houses, but we decorate the outside of our houses, too! Say what? That’s right! We line our rain gutters with lights. We wrap more lights around the outside trees like we do with the indoor Christmas tree. Some outside trees even get their own ornaments, too. We hang wreathes on the front door. Nutcracker men stand watch at the front door. Garland wraps around the porch railing.
Reindeer made out of lights graze in the front lawn. Life-size nativity scenes are set up in front yards. Little lights line the sidewalk up to the front door. Giant ornaments are strewn about the yard. Air-filled Santas and Snowman stand in front of the house while Santa’s reindeer and sleigh are pinned up on the roof. To top it all off, some lights blink and dance. Some even change based on music playing through loud speakers from the house.
It really is all quite the spectacle and it’s one of my favorite activities, traditions even, I suppose, (look at all the traditions I’m finding my family had :p), to take a drive before Christmas. My dad would drive while the rest of us piled into the car. He’d drive super, excessively slow and we’d gaze out the windows with wide eyes at all the people who went crazy with their decorations. And while it may be over-the-top to some, to us it was exquisite. It’s just another way for people to show their Christmas spirit, one that everyone can enjoy.
Oh! I almost forgot. Some people even decorate their cars with evergreen branches, reindeer antlers, wreaths, or Rudolph’s nose! ^.^ (Americans do love holidays. :p)
| Movies To Watch 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Love Actually 6) 7) Home Alone 2 8) Nothing Like the Holidays 9) 10) 11) 12) |
Activities To Do 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) Build a Snowman 8) Snowball Fight 9) Complete Holiday Puzzle 10) Read ‘A Christmas Carol’ 11) Christmas Party 12) |
What do you think of the way Americans decorate their houses? Do other countries decorate their houses like this? Do you think it’s amazing or just a little bit much?
Melanie Noell Bernard 