Some of my best guy friends were graced with the “penthouse” nine-man in Vanderslice as sophomores, and it wasn’t until only recently that I became truly, truly jealous of their common room, half kitchen, long hallway, and enormous “window room” that serves no purpose other than looking awesome. However, when I saw this infamous window room adorned in hundreds of twinkling Christmas lights, I had never seen anything so beautiful.
My family, like the majority of the BC student body, takes Christmas lights very seriously. I spent so many childhood winters sitting on the roof of my first house, watching my dad cuss incessantly while setting up reindeer on the roof, swearing he would never do the light display again. Over 10 years later, my dad has yet to give in, and our new house has permanent Christmas lights that are in our siding.
And while this may seem ridiculous, there is something about lighting up the outside of your house that makes Christmas even more cheerful. I now present to you the craziest Christmas lights and streets traditions from around the U.S. From the tacky to the fabulous to the incredible synchronization of these crazy families, I hope that you are able to find happiness and joy in the twinkling lights around you this holiday season.
- The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights
Yeah, yeah, you’re probably saying “Of course this is amazing, it’s Disney World!” But the cool part of the light at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is not only that it is synchronized to our favorite Disney tunes and to an accompanying parade, but that it was all started by an actual family, the Osborne Family, in Arkansas.
Okay, when I saw Hyatt Extreme Christmas and saw this, I figured it was part of the Hyatt Hotels. Nope, this crazy family actually has a website for their display in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They pride themselves in putting up over 175,000 Christmas lights every year!
- The Luberto Home – Boston, Massachusetts
I’m finding this next year. $10,000 dollars worth of lights just for this guy’s holiday party. I am going to do ridiculous things to get an invite to such an awesome gathering.
- Chicago Christkindlmarket
As a Chicagoan, I had to throw this one in here. A full German Christmas market next to the Chicago River with a brilliant Christmas tree and fireworks at night? I’ll take it. Plus they sell bratwurst and pancakes and hot chocolate in mugs shaped like little boots. I’m sold.
- Frisco Christmas Lights
Talk about an investment. Not only does the Frisco family sync all of these lights to music themselves, they start setting up in September.
- Christmas Street – Baltimore, MD
It’s really called 34th street, and simply because these people live on 34th street, they have to be the cheeriest of people. The entire street lights up at the holidays, renaming itself “Christmas Street” and bringing people from all over the east coast to visit their displays.
- Downs Family Christmas – Norman, OK
Another personal plug -in (no shame!). These are my crazy cousins from Oklahoma. They have been in line to be on Ellen because my uncle is apparently a ridiculous computer programmer and loves Christmas almost too much. They rent out an entire radio station for their fully synced Christmas spectacular, including a 70 foot LED Christmas tree. And the best part? The Downs Family collects canned food donations for the Norman, Oklahoma Food Bank, one of the largest food banks in our country. Besides, the display is just really, really awesome.
Take some time over your winter break to look at the lights in your neighborhood. They may seem overdone, tacky, or maybe plain weird, but remember all of those lights are put up with the best of Christmas spirit at heart. Besides, how is Santa supposed to find his way to your house if you don’t brighten it up just a little?
Photo Sources:
hyattextremechristmas.wordpress.com