Lack of Holiday Lites

RayP(MI)

Well-known Member
Wife and I made a trip downstate today, one we make fairly often, especially during the holidays, on a fairly populated state highway. Noticed there was a general lack of Christmas light displays on people"s yards, houses compared with previous years. The few there were weren"t as grand and over the top as before either. One fellow used to outline his big 4wd Deere with lights, and have it drawn by a lighted reindeer. Not this year. Guess the economy and other factors have taken their toll here too.
 
I think it is a couple of things, no matter who or how you voted for it went on for months, months and months.
Now that the election is over they are back to arguing over the Fiscal Cliff.

Finally it is the economy, this downturn has lasted far too long. Everything is getting more and more expensive, etc.

My thoughts anyway.
 
I think it's just the mentality goes downhill each year as we get more politically correct.... Just had an invitation and a RSVP request for the "Holiday Party"... Mustered all my people skills and said I was gonna find a Christmas Party somewhere and give it my support...
 
When I was younger dad would always tell me to turn the light off in a room when I was leaving/done. Said it wastes electricity to leave the lights on when no one was in there.
I always pointed out the irony to him of his christmas lights. . . they would get turned on at night while we were inside the house and could not see them. Guess it was to put on a show for everyone else.
 
Saw a news story the other day about how a Christmas tree made it to the site where it was going to be displayed safely. What the hail are these idiots thinking? They cut the thing down, and are hanging it up like a trophy buck on display. IT'S DONE FOR!!!
 
Government, courts, politically correct idiots have driven the country secular & combine that with the downward spiral into socialism (read bad economy forever) & who is then in the mood to spend money to light up Christmas! :cry:
 
I'll try to check out McCool Junction, NE. That town always went berzerk over Christmas lights.

A few years ago, one resident actually filed a complaint with the police. Said the glare from his neighbor's Christmas lights, and the way they lit up the inside of his house, kept him from sleeping.
 
Variously defined, irreligion appears to be increasing (along with secularization generally), particularly in some Western countries. It is increasing in absolute numbers with overall population growth, but is decreasing as a percentage of the world population, due primarily to population increases in more religious developing countries outpacing population growth (or decline) in less religious developed countries. (See the geographic distribution of atheism.)

The American Religious Identification Survey gave nonreligious groups the largest gain in terms of absolute numbers: 14.3 million (8.4% of the population) to 29.4 million (14.1% of the population) for the period 1990–2001 in the U.S.[3][28] Reuters describes how a study profiling the "no religion" demographic found that the so-called "nones", at least in the U.S., are the fastest growing religious affiliation category.[32] This group consists of 33% agnostics, 33% theists, and 10% atheists.[1] A 2012 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reports, "The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling."[2]

A similar pattern has been found in other countries such as Australia, Canada, and Mexico. According to statistics in Canada, the number of "Nones" increased by about 60% between 1985 and 2004.[33] In Australia, census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics give "no religion" the largest gains in absolute numbers over the 15 years from 1991 to 2006, from 2,948,888 (18.2% of the population that answered the question) to 3,706,555 (21.0% of the population that answered the question).[34] According to INEGI, in Mexico, the number of atheists grows annually by 5.2%, while the number of Catholics grows by 1.7%.[35][36] In New Zealand, over 34% of the population are irreligious making it largest percentage of total population in Oceania region.{{cndate=November 2012}
 
Maybe some of it is due to the $0.15 per KWH we pay for electricity here in Michigan, some of the highest rates in the country. Maybe some of that is due to the 10% of power that we are supposed to get from "renewable" sources by 2015, per the statute passed by the tree huggers. Maybe?
 
It's much easier to put up indoor Christmas decorations where the family members can enjoy them. Fewer outdoor light does not mean Christmas isn't being celebrated any less, it's just celebrated more personally rather than publicly.

Fewer outdoor Christmas lights has been a general trend for the last 10-12 years. Outdoor lights are expensive to buy, difficult to hang, more difficult and sometimes dangerous to take down in snow and ice and the light strings are less reliable than they used to be. A few years ago light strings would only last about 3 seasons outdoors.

Towns are also scaling back on their downtown lights. They decorate the street light poles but no longer string lights across the streets (too much damage to the light poles from ice and high wind).
 
Then you have those that just go over board with crazy things like this.
a91608.jpg
 
I have NEVER, EVER equated "Christmas lights" with "religion." To me--a guy who grew up poor-- they were a sign that you either owned stock in the electric utility, or you had more money than you knew how to spend wisely...or both. From what I read of the Nativity in the "good book," I don't think audacious and tasteless displays of lights had anything to do with the original event. In fact, I don't see any references there to Santa Claus or reindeer or sleighs, either. So I fail to see how a lack of those decorations has any correlation to a lack of "religiosity" in America [or elsewhere]...

At my house, I no longer decorate for Christmas...and here's why: in 1992, my first wife passed away 5 days after Christmas. After New Year's Day--and after the funeral--taking down those decorations was one of the most difficult and sad things I ever did. So no one else in my household has to go through that experience, I no longer decorate for Christmas.

And my lack of irrational, "celebratory" lighting has NOTHING to do with religion. But it has a LOT to do with NOT being wasteful of either electricity OR money.
 
Marilyn wants to put lights up for the grandkids to enjoy so last evening we put string lights and a lighted wreath on the deck railing. Wouldn't bother me if we had no lights at all. Well, maybe a small 18" lighted christmas tree that we could pull out of a box already decorated and set it up in two minutes. Then we could put it back in the box in five minutes after christmas. Jim
 
I'm of mixed emotions about the whole Christmas lights thing. I think one of the prettiest displays we ever did and probably the most religious was the simple battery powered candle in each window we did while we lived in Florida. I've used the multi-color c-7 and c-9 light sets on our other houses, mostly because that's what I remember as Christmas lights from when I was a kid. The one display that probably caused me to think about Christmas and the season occurred when I was stationed in Greece. It was not only the first time I was away from my family at Christmas but also the first time I spent Christmas out of a Northern area where snow could be expected. It was a simple string of lights thrown on the palm tree at the guard shack at the cantonment area of the Air Base, followed by that night listening to what ever the Greeks were doing at the chapel on base. I don't know if it was a call to prayer(that's what it reminded me of) or they were broadcasting the mass/liturgy on their PA system. It was sad that it reminded me I was away from friends and family, but comforting for the religious aspects. For some reason it made me think of Jeffery Archer's short story "The First Miracle", about a young boy who was in a foreign land with his family on the first Christmas and what happened to him.
 
Anybody with a 4WD Deere should have lots of money for lights, most of the ag industry up north did very well this year, could of used a little more rain, but better than too much!
 
We never did a big decoration at Christmas, but I've had a 6' star on the barn roof for 20+ years. People gouge me if I don't turn it on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We're a quarter mile from the oil road, so from the road it's hard to tell that it's got a few bulbs burned out. Kinda like me. I've got a few bulbs burned out, too. Well, and there's also the string of lights tacked up under the eaves of the shop. I plugged them in too, and most of them lit up. Now the ones on the eaves of the house - we take them down every year on Jan 1. They get rolled up and stored properly, and they all lit like they were supposed to. The star and the string on the shop stay up all year round. It's part of my redneck image that I work so faithfully to maintain.
 
personally, I do not like Christmas lights on anything but a tree. It has become gaudy and wasteful. People seem to want to out do each other and that's not what the day is all about. Sometimes, less really is more.
 
It"s brought me a lot pleasure to light up the early winter nights with Christmass lights over the years. The neighbors seem to enjoy them. I can"t seem to get into it this year when I"m still wearing shorts and thirst outside...
 
PJH,
I see you have oil roads. Some areas they call them tar roads. Here in the upper midwest most people call them blacktop roads.
Where do you live with those oil roads?
LA in WI
 
I think it was the older generation who got into the big displays. My folks used to put up a big display, had a generator to run it, but in their late 70's, they don't want the work anymore. And the younger generations are more interested in computer graphics.
 
(quoted from post at 19:07:54 12/04/12) I think it's just the mentality goes downhill each year as we get more politically correct.... Just had an invitation and a RSVP request for the "Holiday Party"... Mustered all my people skills and said I was gonna find a Christmas Party somewhere and give it my support...

Watch your self on the thin ice Dave. As you know I am a Christian and attend a church where the make believe Christians that you like to condemn get their ears sizzled in some manner every other Sunday, I still have to recognize all of the other religions that just happen to have a major observance during the same two or three week period.
 
Paul, You been over in Gratiot county? Windmills by the dozen, a few turning, putting up more. Am told none is creating usable electricity. They don"t even have transmission lines built. But they sure got the mills! At night, it"s a flashing red light district!
 
I live in Southern Illinois. Actually, our main road is an oil and chip road, as apposed to what are called blacktop (hot mix) roads around here. When I was young, the neighboring county north of us used sawdust and oil on their roads. They were so slick they would shine on a hot day. When I say oil, I'm referring to road oil.

Paul
 
The wife commented on that Thursday night when we went to Mt Pleasant. Saw a few all lit up,but VERY few.
 
I wait every year for the annual broad cast of the National Lampoon"s Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase.
The Christmas ligh scenes in general and my favourite when the Griswolds plug in the lights . The town dims then irestored when the local nuclear power plant engages the Aux Power switch
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top