Decorating your house for Christmas is one way to show everyone on your block that you are full of the Christmas spirit. All of the brightly lit houses and beautiful decorations make up for the fact that all of the leaves have fallen from the trees and the flowers have stopped blooming for the winter. In many colder climates, outdoor Christmas decorations are the last really pretty things you may see outside until the beginning of Spring a few months later. It's important to make the most of your decorating dollar to have the most nicely decorated house possible.
Rules and Regulations
Before going crazy with Christmas decorations this season, you may need to do some research on what you can and can't do. Many homeowner's associations and apartment complex managers have specific policies on what kind of outdoor Christmas decorations, and how many, you are allowed to have. Some communities and towns actually have laws limiting the size and number of decorations you can legally display.
To some, this may seem oppressive, but these laws and policies are there for a reason. Every neighborhood has a story about a family who goes overboard with their holiday decorations, putting up so many bright lights that the neighbors can't sleep, or having displays with sound effects that disturb the entire neighborhood or using so many electrical components that they cause the power to flicker. These rules prevent that.
Yard Decorations
Decorating your home for the holidays doesn't mean you shouldn't give your lawn some attention, too. Putting up yard decorations gives your home holiday motif a three-dimensional aspect. There are many great ideas for holiday yard decorations.
One common sight when driving through neighborhoods in December is the inflatable yard decoration. These decorations feature plastic or light vinyl shells that are then inflated with an included fan to stand up in the yard. These decorations can range from three to as high as ten feet or even higher! Popular inflatable decorations include Santa Claus, reindeer, giant gift boxes, and holiday snow globes.
Another popular yard decoration is the animated light display. These displays typically feature a Christmas icon, such as Santa in his sleigh with reindeer leading the way, set up to flash certain lights in sequence to animate the display. When seen in sequence, the lights look like Santa is driving his sleigh, with the reins moving back and forth and the reindeer's legs moving as well. There are many such decorations, and they are especially popular with children.
Christmas Lights
Of course, no outdoor holiday display is complete without Christmas lights. Outlining your house with Christmas lights has become so commonplace that when a house doesn't have them, people start to wonder if Scrooge lives there. There are a number of different styles to choose from when putting up Christmas lights. You can have white lights or multi-colored lights, solid or flashing, large or small. Keep in mind though that once you get started hanging lights, you have to finish the job. Nothing looks tackier than a half-finished light job.
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