Well, I put some Holiday house lights up. I don't always. The front of the house hangs over the basement 2 feet, so I can reach the soffit with a stepladder. I screwed in some cupholder hooks every 3 feet years ago, so it really isn't that hard. Depends on the weather. I'll add strings of lights in the front windows. Maybe.
Being more science-oriented than religious, I know that all the early Winter holidays are based on the Winter Solstice. Traditionally/originally, they all celebrated the New Year. Calendars have changed a few times through history, the dates stay the same.
I like Solstice. It's the shortest day and what better time to think a new year has started? The das srart getting longer again. The hope of renewal returns.
So I put up some lights most years. Mine are all blue. Nice calming color. Sedate, unflashy, different. And I don't overdo it.
Some of my neighbors do a LOT more. It's their right, but s crowded with decorations a cat couldn't walk through their yard. But I've seen "more". One street I drove by on my work commute years ago could probably be seen by from the Space Station.
I may set up a fake tree this year. I have some strings of bubble lights and I miss seeing those. When I was a child, my Dad's Parents had these big 8 inch ones and I would sit on the floor (we visited each Christmas) and just stare at them. I always wondered where the bubbles went. The ones I found are only 4" but I still wonder when the bubbles go. Well, I like Lava Lamps too (though I understand THAT)!
The window lights are easy. I bought some tension rods that fit inside the tops of the windows and I just used to feed the the strings of lights around them and let them drape. Now I have hooks and that makes it a lot easier.
I bought a great fake 6' tree years ago. I seldom use it. Unfolding the branches is hard; repacking it takes an hour. And that is with a trick I worked out pushing the 3 sections into trash bags in a trash can to compress the limbs.
I like the 3 foot prelit tree these days. On a TV tray at the front window, it looks like a full tree from outside. LOL! But the little tree doesn't hold fancy ornaments, and I have a LOT of them. Maybe this is a good year to set up the big one. It it supposed to rain hard and possibly snow later today, the new computer isn't going to arrive for a week, and I went grocery shopping today.
So maybe I have nothing to do. Yeah, right. I haven't had "nothing to do" since I was 12. But it would be a good opportunity for a serious "all-out" tree decorating event. If I do, I'll post pictures. If I don't, I didn't.
Strange thing: I went out to look at my house lights at 9pm last night. Stood out on the street until my motion detector lights went off. Looked nice. Then I looked down the street and realized that not a single house on my street had lights on.
Pictures from past years and it will be much the same this year.
The prelit fake tree, unadorned. From outside, it looks like a big one...
Funny story: Dad used to love adding "tinsel" to the tree. They were originally actually tin, so he saved them each year. Later, they were soft pastic, but old habits die hard. He saved those too in spite of them being nearly free in the stores. He used to get so aggravated when we kids just tossed them on the tree. When he thought no one was looking, he would arrange them "properly".
The tree skirt/mat Mom sent me one year...
The full-size tree (partially-decorated)...
