Nothing makes me feel more like a little kid again than seeing all of the lights and decorations that light up the homes and businesses during the holiday season.  Admit it, there are some places you’ll purposely drive past beginning in December just to see their annual display of festive décor.  No doubt your family has their own annual favorites.  For instance, in my family, everyone wants to go past the “electrician’s house” on St. Paul Road, drive through Byron Memorial Park in Williamsport, or even see the display at City Park (that has music synced to the lights that plays through the car radio – fancy!)

There’s even audible disappointment when going past one of these annual stops and discovering that they haven’t put up anything for the season (yes, I’m talking about you, house next to the Hagerstown Speedway).

Outdoor decorations come in all types of styles and flavors.  There are houses strewn with small string lights, some with those fat C-9 bulbs, and some houses favor those light-up inflatables, which honestly, when not hooked up during the day, remind me of the day after a roaring college frat party – lots of carnage and debris strewn everywhere.  Some folks like to coordinate their colors, or even go with an “all-white” color scheme.  Some folks get as many colors out there as they can, and feature blinking, twinkling, and cascading lights that turn on and off like a Christmas disco.  Some folks go for a more refined approach, with just lit candles in the window and a floodlight drawing attention to their front door, which is wrapped in bows or colored paper.

No matter how it’s done, there is no better feeling than to drive around on a cold night, listening to Christmas tunes on the car radio with the family and slowing down to gawk and point at all of the holiday arrangements and outdoor layouts.  Sure, its small-town stuff, but what’s wrong with that?  Family members that have long since moved away can be instantly and fondly transported back to a time and place of their past whenever it’s brought up in a phone conversation or mentioned in the scribblings of a Christmas card.

Do I decorate the outside of my own house?  You better believe it.  I live in a two-story, brick, craftsman-style home built back in 1927, with a big wraparound porch that screams to be festooned in holiday splendor.  I’ve got green garlands around the exterior doors, matching wreaths, and small tress that border the front door.  Decorated garlands are attached to all of my porch posts and frame the bottom of the windows, which are all punctuated with a single candle.  There are small lanterns with lights hanging from the porch, and this year I’ve even got small, decorated trees bordering one side of the house.  Of course, everything is lit with white lights at night.  It’s all very “Currier and Ives”, and my family looks forward to it as one of our own family Christmas traditions.

I hope you take some time to revel in the decorations of the holiday season, or even take the opportunity to decorate the outside of your own house, whatever your style or sentiment.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go buy more replacement batteries for all of these lights outside.  The Energizer Bunny does have his limits, and I’ll not have a darkened display for passersby to view.