"Those houses"

Every year, Tom and I make a point of driving by certain houses that have outlandish outdoor Christmas decorations. There is one particular neighborhood that has a few very dependable displays every year. People who live within ten miles of this stretch know exactly which ones we mean.

This one is on a side street.


It has actually toned down over the years -- originally, there were lights on the rooftop that were made to look like snowballs. For some reason (actually I can think of plenty of good reasons!) they stopped putting those up.

If you roll down the windows, you can here some tinny-sounding Christmas music coming from god knows which of those decorations.

Then, a short drive around the corner is this:

(and they've actually toned this one down since last year -- much less kitsch, and they picked a color scheme!)

That one's on a pretty major road, and people tend to slow down and stare in disbelief. When we were there, a tow truck was towing away a dented car (no one was hurt) -- right across the street from this house. I'd be surprised if it was the only fender-bender in the vicinity with all those lights on.

And a short drive from there was this.

Yikes.

I know there are other crazy-houses around, but these? They're the must-sees.