Christmas Decorations

Add to the list of Christmas decorations from Florida that leave me floored: yard ornament PINK FLAMINGOS IN CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. Up North, they stick to sleighs, deer, Santa or Frosty... the wire frame of the character lit up with Christmas lights. In Florida, you can find those things, but you can also find pink flamingos, palm trees, surf boards. It's a very interesting cultural difference.

I'm still not used to it.

In my apartment complex, the management is holding a Christmas decorating contest for $25, $35, or $50 off your rent. I look around my own little section and see two other apartments have entered the spirit of the season.

Across the way, Barb and Fred have hung icicle lights from the bottom of the walkway to the second floor. They've also decorated the little patch of lawn in front of their place with numerous yard ornaments and found every inch of gaudy garland left over from Christmases past and strung it around and through everything in reach. I've noticed that since they decorated, they have been afraid to pull all the way forward in their parking space. Good thing I back into mine or we'd be having bumper wars every morning. Although their decorations are quite handy when I leave early for McD’s or come in late.

Below me, Mike and Johanna have gone for a more natural look, sticking to pine tree and berry garlands, massed in equal amounts and strung with lights. Their decorations aren't quite so bright and it's usually dark when I leave and come home, so I haven't seen if there is more hiding among the remaining plastic and silk flowers still out from the summer. I did note that they've wrapped their patio table in Christmas paper. That's different.

I decorated for myself and only myself. If the complex likes it and awards me, that’s great. If not, it’s still OK because I didn't spend any money that I wouldn't have spent anyway. I have only a few small, unlit decorations out. I have my wreath that I put so much thought into last year, strung on the door with the pretty purple and pewter Christmas bells with the Celtic knot at the top. In my front window, I have a silver reindeer with a pail of pine cones on one side, and the gold sleigh that Kat and Rob gave me a few years ago on the other side. On my patio table (really a home made bed-side book stand bought at a yard sale), I have a tiny white tinsel tree dotted with red bell ornaments and topped with a little plastic robin with real feathers that I found at K-Mart. I hope none of the neighborhood cats take a liking to that. It's really quite pretty there. So, none of my decorations will scream at anyone from the roadside, but they are there, and they are things that make me feel Christmassy inside. And when you get down to it, that's really all that matters, isn't it?

Why do I ask this question? Because the other day, on my way out to work, Barb stopped me and said “Aren’t you going to decorate? They’re having a contest, you know.” And I smiled, replied, “I have decorated,” and left for work.