candy cane man

Day seven of twelve

Sean: Did you see that candy cane man only has his huskies out so far this year?
Me: No. I haven't driven that way recently. But he left his angel up all year this year.
Sean: Really?

Doesn't work for me.

We don't know who candy cane man is. We don't even know if he's a man. We do know that this particular neighbor has a plethora of tacky Christmas lawn decor including these giant candy canes he hangs from his (her?)(not pine) tree. Of course, he added the rest of his decor, so feast your eyes.

It's outdoor decor day! I'm in an apartment so my decor is limited to a fresh wreath on the door. So exciting!

Yes. The door is brown and ugly. I promise the bow was much perkier before.

One day, we'll have a house, and we will have much more fun in the decor department, inspired by my list of do's and don'ts from my neck of the woods:

DO Keep it simple:

Clean, warm, and festive. Also won't kill the electric bill. Works for me.

DON'T Think LED's can replace classic white lights:

Yes, I'm all about green, crunchy, efficient...but look at the first pic then look here. Bleh. The Christmas "glow" is gone and replaced with a glaring, almost clinical look. No, thanks.

If you must have lawn ornaments, DO keep them to a minimum:

Again, nice and clean. I'm not a fan of most lawn decorations, but this one is simple and nothing about this screams "overkill!" Nicely done.

That being said, for the love of God, DON'T go insane with the lawn decor:

I mean, do you really think this looks good? Really? That's bright enough to keep your neighbors from sleeping at night and all those inflatable things look so sad during the day when they lie deflated on your lawn. Chill out.

DO Share your tree:

Trees are lovely and should be shared. I love driving by a house where their beauty is showcased in the window for all to see.

DON'T Share your lights if they don't match:

I see this all. the. time. Generally the person ran out of one strand and started with another. It's tacky. But in this case, the mismatch is on purpose. Those multi/white lights swap sides every second. But I hate it! It's not even symmetrical. Yuck.

DO Take advantage of your door, especially if it's red:

Sean and I drove around enjoying the lights and taking pics one evening, and on multiple occasions, one of us would comment "ooh, that's a nice door!" (another example being the first "do" in this post). If your door is already red, yay, your battle is already half-won. Slap a wreath on that baby and you look magazine-quality festive!

DON'T fake the bows:

The real ones look a lot nicer, I promise. They'll save you money on lights and electricity, too.

DO Remember the reason for the season:

'Nuff said.