Christmas is OVER! Take Your Decorations DOWN Already!

I noticed the other day that some people still had outdoor Christmas decorations up, and in my naiveté, I just assumed they were rogue revelers, lone non-conformists who had rebelled against the Gregorian calendar and decided to continue the celebration. But then I realized that a lot of people still had their stuff up and out and on daytime display (because although their adornments were still quite evident in daylight, they had the good sense to discontinue the nighttime show – either that or they got their electric bill from December and just can’t afford the added attraction the glow provides). So on my way over to Joanne’s house yesterday (yes, we continue to write, not blog, but we also watch TV, eat pizza and Entenmann’s cake, drink coffee and gossip, so it’s not all bad), I decided to count how many people have yet to take down their Christmas decorations.

Now, according to Google Maps, I live 3 miles from Joanne. That’s not really far at all. That’s the length of a good parade. So imagine my surprise when I stopped counting at 15 houses! And I was only about halfway there. In Joanne’s neighborhood I saw another 5 or six, but by then I was so fed up with these lazy people that I could not even bear to look at what was in their yards, what they felt was so very special that it needed to be left up until at least February 10th, a full 47 days after the accepted date of celebration. FORTY-SEVEN DAYS!

I mean really, people. It’s bad enough in the middle of January. I was annoyed at the entire town of New Hope PA on January 24th because everyone’s lights were still on and burning, but in retrospect I realize I owe those poor Keystone Staters an apology. By Long Island standards, they were still in the thick of the season! However, once you cross the imaginary line between January and February, it’s just plain trashy. Take that stuff down.

Some of you may not be as annoyed as me, some may feel that I am being overly critical, so as one last “in their defense” I will offer this: I understand the joy of the season, and I understand that some feel a slight depression when all is said and done and the decorations must come down and be stored away for another 10 ½ months. It can make one melancholy. But the way I look at it is this: It’s even more depressing on Easter Sunday to have to pass houses that still sport a display of lighted candy canes, red-bowed reindeer made of fake white wicker and arranged in different poses on the lawn, and inflatable mangers complete with Santa on a choo-choo train (because it is a well known fact that Santa was at the birth of Christ, and he arrived on an inflatable choo-choo), all topped off by a house rimmed in icicle lights that have started to come away and are now flapping in the wind, providing the neighbors with a chorus of “thwack thwack thwack” all the livelong day.

TAKE THEM DOWN! Thank you.




Copyright (c) 2009 Leslie R Becker