Griswold houses

[Melman]

As our area is becoming more and more decorated for Christmas, I wondered if everyone is finding their fair share of Griswold houses somewhere near them. Can you describe them so we can all enjoy? :D

There are three houses that I see on a fairly regular basis. One is on a HUGE lot (sort of a country road and not in a neighborhood.) It's possibly a mobile home that's been enlarged and made into a permanent structure. The adjoining yard has the mobile home in it. These two yards are sort of combined with holiday paraphernalia. You name it, it's in the yard...or hanging from the trees...or leaning or spinning or flashing. There are so many lights, you almost need sunglasses to drive by. There are angels, trees, Santa and reindeer, Mary, Joseph and the Baby and just about every other type of holiday character that could possibly fill an inch of space in these two yards. They even have the arches that stretch across the driveway so anyone who drives up to the house has to go through a lighted "tunnel". People drive by in amazement. :D

There's a yard just around the corner of my house that has a typical neighborhood sized yard...they have almost as many things in their front yard as the lots described above. :D Icecycle lights, red lights surround a small tree, light poll covered in lights, more flashing lights on standing characters. I actually haven't looked at this one enough to figure out what all is in this yard. This is also the yard that is decorated for nearly any holiday just about 12 months out of the year....Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, you get the idea.

And my favorite. This one isn't totally a Griswold house. There aren't quite so many lights as the other ones. Nice neighborhood...BIG yard decorations. They have the arches across the driveway (that lighted tunnel effect again). They have 2 of those huge blow-up plastic toy soldiers by the front door. A big blow-up snowman stands in their flower bed. Where some people have luminaries (white bags filled with sand and a candle) lining their sidewalk, they have electric candles lining their sidewalk. Lots of wreaths from every window. And the new item that's there as of this morning....a giant blow-up Grinch overlooking the whole yard. I get such a kick out of this house!! :D

I guess you almost have to see these things to believe them. Who else has the local electric company glad that it's the holiday season?? Anyone lucky enough to have a family of Griswold's living next door? Oh heck, anyone want to confess *THEY* are the Griswold's? :D :o

[lindrusso]

We have some in the neighborhood, but they mostly do it with lights, so it's not quite so cartoonish as some displays. They are fun to look at, but I'm kind of glad they are not right next door. ;) For the really out of control displays, we drive about 20 minutes south of here and visit one development that seems to be having a "who can have the most decorations" competition.

Did anyone else read this article about the Christmas display feud between 2 neighbors?? Giant Grinch (http://www.ktvu.com/news/3951424/detail.html)

Part of me sympathizes with having to put up with all the traffic created by this display, but part of me thinks the guy should be allowed to decorate any way he wants. The kids love this kind of stuff! What fun would it be if we couldn't drive around and look at all the over-the-top Christmas decorations????? But I have to admit, I don't think I'd want to be neighbors with the, um, decorating overachievers. :D ;)

Alysha, who decorates only with white lights ;)

[Gracie]

There's a street in another town where the neighbors all try to outdo each other. These houses have larger-than-usual sized lawns (but not mansions) and they use every square inch of yard, house and driveway including trees. A couple of them have the arch/tunnel thing. DD and I usually drive down there the week before Christmas to check it out. They really get a lot of traffic.

There used to be a house in a different town that had an indoor pool that used to decorate to such an extreme and draw such large crowds that vendors used to set up in the street. There would be the sausage guy, the cotton candy guy, the ice cream guy, etc. The town police closed off the road leading into their neighborhood, which was on a hill, and you had to park at the bottom and walk up. They had a walk-through tour of decorations in their garden and a take-your-picture-with-Santa booth. The neighbors finally got sick of it about 10 years ago and put a stop to it. I assume they still decorate but it's not an attraction anymore, which is too bad because the last time DD saw it she was in a stroller and of course she doesn't remember.

Loren

[dixie]

Two extremes...I have a neighbor who does an absolutely beautiful job of decorating with only white lights, up and down all the tree branches, every single tree...there are probably 10-12 BIG trees in his yard and he has every branch lit...its so pretty! Then, there's the house where my in-laws used to live, they completely covered their house in colored lights, they used the siding as a guide and went back and forth down every board over the whole house...but the best part is you can see inside the windows and the inside is just as "busy"...lights go up every corner then around the ceiling and around...colored lights are EVERYWHERE!!

[ClaraB]

We have a street in town that you could call "the Griswold street", except the neighbors all cooperate, rather than compete. There are mature trees on the boulevards in front of all the houses on the street, and every year the neighborhood hires a cherrypicker to come and put clear lights in all the trees. All the trunks alternate red and green lights. Then there are the yard displays - santas and reindeer, nativity scenes, lights on trees and houses, all lit up every night. Every evening before Christmas, there's a steady procession of cars up and down the street (it's on a hill - about 20 homes participate) to admire the lights, and sometimes the neighbors stand on the boulevards and hand out candycanes to the kids going by. Now that's a neighborhood I'd like to live in :)!

[jphilg]

I have always come from the "white lights and perhaps a spotlight on the door wreath" school of outdoor Christmas decorations, but growing up, there was a house near ours that was famous town-wide (long before competitive holiday lights became so popular) for their blue lights. I think they had something like 500,000 blue lights strung up every year from Thanksgiving to Christmas. This was a very large Italianite home, with a huge, gorgeously landscaped yard, and with the blue glow, it looked really cool. Kids loved it, and adults were memerized even if they thought it was a bit much.

[funnybone]

We don't do the Griswald thing, but I've seen some that do. I don't mind them - my kids LOVE them, but I'm glad they aren't across the street from me. I couldn't take all that glare.

Our neighborhood has a contest for best decorations too, but I wouldn't say that anyone really goes overboard. Our house isn't decorated yet - DH broke his wrist a couple of weeks ago, and we've had snow and cold weather so I haven't wanted to do it yet. This weeks it's milder, so I'll have to get out and do it. I just do the trees and shrubs, but there a lot of them. I don't expect to win the contest either.

[1MegMeg]

This thread couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Just last week when I was driving home from yoga I almost wrecked my truck as I stared, in awe, at the "National Lampoon House". :D

The roof has rows of white lights on it. Not just along the edge of the roof, but ROWS back and forth back and forth all over the entire roof. Then the front part of the house has rows of red lights. Seriously, these lights cover the entire roof and front side of the house, it looks exactly like the Griswold house. I really need to take a picture of it!

[colleency]

Our neighborhood is filled with giant inflatable characters. Next door is santa, a tree, and a snowman. There's a snowman a couple houses down. We find it to be ever so slightly creepy. It's kind of like living next to a used car lot.

[stefania4]

OMG - we have a situation similar to the Grinch story!

There's a house in a very pricey neighborhood that goes all out - Santa, sleigh & reindeer; giant N-O-E-L; plastic choir of angels; the works. The house next door to them has a 10-foot tall wooden cutout of the Grinch (from the shoulders up), glaring at the house next door. We love it!

[Escher]

Pure white lights, green wreaths w/ obligatory red ribbons on the door. Tasteful and festive.

But I wouldn't begrudge anyone who makes an effort towards holiday cheer....