Christmas, Lights, Action!
Christmas season is finally upon us. And if you missed the memo, you definitely won't miss the accompanying decorations that come with the festive season.
Growing up in Kenya, one of the hallmarks of Christmas was the Christmas tree. During this time we would look for a young cypress tree, cut it down and set it up with decorations in the living room. Decorations would include Christmas cards, cotton wool to represent the snow, ornaments, garlands and the famed Christmas lights. In addition, to decorating the Christmas tree we would decorate the living room with shiny garlands and ornaments to capture the festivity mood of the season.
That was then, and not much has changed back in the way people celebrate the occasion in our motherland. Over here in the US, its a totally different ball game. Come Christmas time and nothing is spared as far as decorations are concerned. It's not just enough to decorate the living room and the Christmas tree. If anything, Christmas decorations provides a chance for households to out-decorate their neighbours. For that reason, outdoor decorations is big business in American suburbs.
Just walk into the seasonal section of Walmart, Home Depot or Lowe's and you'll be confronted by shelves of outdoor decorations. Ranging from inflatable Christmas characters, lighting's, ornaments, sculptures, nativity sets and wreaths. All designed for out-door use. Come the weekend after Thanksgiving day and the whole neighborhood is pre-occupied with setting their Christmas decorations.
Some households go to lengths of hiring professional to create the best Christmas decorations. Usually, the bigger the McMansion the more grandiose the outdoor Christmas decorations. Driving through some neighborhoods evokes the feeling of driving through a Christmas fantasy land as some households spend way more than the $94 that the average household will spend on Christmas decorations. It would not surprise me if some households spend up to $5,000 as they hire professionals to do it. Such houses are usually decorated from the rooftops to their flower gardens to the trees in their yards and also the fencing, if any. It's no secret that some people over do it because there have been cases where neighbors have been known to protest because of the high vehicular traffic created by people coming to view the over decorated houses. Some of this cases sometimes end up in the media and you may get to see such houses in the news.
For kids, this is a very exciting time for them as they are usually fascinated with such displays of Christmas lighting and they really enjoy it when they get to decorate their houses. While as a parent I would like to moderate such decorations, my kids would like the opposite. During every trip to the stores they are keen to pinpoint on the decorations that we should buy to add onto what we have put up.
In addition to decorating the homes, a lot of businesses, work places, churches, schools and shopping centers have also taken to decorating their exteriors. The decorations are usually limited to Christmas lights unlike the neighborhoods. As such you can imagine how it looks at night when one is driving around. It's almost like we could do away with the street lights as there is already enough lighting being provided by the decorations.
In some public parks, they create what is referred to as a Christmas magical land or kingdom. With these parks, all the trees are decorated and they set it up such that you can drive your car through the various lighting displays or take a horse driven wagon ride in some instances. Visitors are usually charged per car load to drive through the park and there may be places where one can come out of their car and walk around. However, most people don't venture out of the warmth of their cars because of the freezing temperatures.
With three weeks to Christmas day, I'll enjoy the holiday cheer that comes with the festivities and help light up my neighborhood though I will moderate on the decorations. None of my neighbors have shown signs of going overboard and I hope it remains that way to keep the peace in the sub-division.
4 comments:
December is a wonderful time because of festivities like Christmas, schools are closed and most companies close early. We also used to cut cypress tree, which was the fence around our house, those who didn’t have would come to our places or go searching for it to decorate during Christmas. Those days we would use Christmas lights, balls even cotton wool to look like snow for decoration. There were no variety in the supermarkets in Kenya like today, but now you will get everything you can afford from supermarkets like Nakumatt. During our days kids were more creative and less demanding like kids of today. They want everything without thinking whether their parents can afford or not.
People stopped growing cypress because of some pests attacked most of them some year back, so people selling flowers and tree plants on the roads plant them at the begging of the year and sell the short trees at this time. Alternatively one can buy an artificial tree from the supermarkets. People in Kenya don’t do out door decoration like there, may be a few do, I only see Supermarkets decorated with light, like Nakumatt they did it from Diwali celebrations, they also decorated the trees and they are still there for Christmas.
This is the time when people can really spend, some go overboard and forget about January school fees, though the government and political parties are promising free education up to secondary, parents should take care. This Christmas celebrations in Kenya will be marred with campaigns and a lot of noise because of elections. At least the weather is favorable here for us to enjoy more, traveling and visiting relatives.
Sue, I miss Christmas in Kenya, though I enjoy having quiet celebrations with my family over here.
Ssem,
I have always thought that people go over the top with Christmas here! I like the lights and decorations - the winter wonderland it creates when it is nicely done. However,some are a disgrace....one house in my neighbourhood puts up these garish blinking lights and unattractive decorations -seems like they just bought a whole aisle at Walmart - it fills every nook and cranny of their windows, doors and front yard with no arrangement.....makes you want to pull that plug!
Jabi,
I'd be tempted to pull the plug. Lol.
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