Perhaps your city has a Christmas Lights Tour. If it doesn't, and you've never heard of the concept, give you a brief description. You buy a ticket, get into a bus or van that takes you past the most beautifully or ostentatiously decorated houses.
And trust me, the stereotype about the most over-decorated houses belonging to Italian-Americans is mostly true. As you can tell from my last name, my heritage (most of it, anyway) comes from the "boot". That makes me an authority on such things. Really! Oh, and my family's house would have been part of one of those tours, had anybody come up with the idea of running them back then.
I don't think I will ever put so much time and effort into stringing lights and putting up props that will be taken down a couple of weeks later. Also, even if I were to become rich, I wouldn't want to pay the electric bills the owners of those houses run up. But I can look at them---from my Brooks saddle.
You see where this is going: I did a "lights" tour on my bike. I didn't stray very far from my place. But I put in a couple of hours of riding to see these:
First, I pedaled to 2179 25th Avenue in Astoria. I first discovered this place during the first Christmas season I spent, six years ago, in my current place.
I am alwas amazed at how the owner of the house manages to turn the front into a collection of little Christmas dioramas.
Wherever I start, and in whichever direction I go, every "panel" seems more wonderful and elaborate than the last.
Hey, you can even watch the umpteenth rerun of "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer"!:
I would say that the owner of this house certainly gives the neighborhood a gift every Christmas:
From this place, I rode to "thirty by thirty": the corner of 30th Street and 30th Road:
The four-colored lights look simple. But I like the way they're arranged. From the front, they give this house an almost-Asian look:
Finally, back to my block. Interesting, isn't it, how two adjoining row houses can have such different styles of decorating:
And trust me, the stereotype about the most over-decorated houses belonging to Italian-Americans is mostly true. As you can tell from my last name, my heritage (most of it, anyway) comes from the "boot". That makes me an authority on such things. Really! Oh, and my family's house would have been part of one of those tours, had anybody come up with the idea of running them back then.
I don't think I will ever put so much time and effort into stringing lights and putting up props that will be taken down a couple of weeks later. Also, even if I were to become rich, I wouldn't want to pay the electric bills the owners of those houses run up. But I can look at them---from my Brooks saddle.
You see where this is going: I did a "lights" tour on my bike. I didn't stray very far from my place. But I put in a couple of hours of riding to see these:
First, I pedaled to 2179 25th Avenue in Astoria. I first discovered this place during the first Christmas season I spent, six years ago, in my current place.
I am alwas amazed at how the owner of the house manages to turn the front into a collection of little Christmas dioramas.
Wherever I start, and in whichever direction I go, every "panel" seems more wonderful and elaborate than the last.
Hey, you can even watch the umpteenth rerun of "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer"!:
I would say that the owner of this house certainly gives the neighborhood a gift every Christmas:
From this place, I rode to "thirty by thirty": the corner of 30th Street and 30th Road:
The four-colored lights look simple. But I like the way they're arranged. From the front, they give this house an almost-Asian look:
Finally, back to my block. Interesting, isn't it, how two adjoining row houses can have such different styles of decorating:
