Five years ago, I covered something called Christmas lighting addiction in our then-fledgling newsletter. It was a bit tongue-in-cheek, because I’m not a big believer of most addictive behaviors. Christmas lights? I mean, c’mon…
But as I guess with anything in life, you can go overboard with decorating your house in Christmas lights.
Adorning one’s tree (and eventually one’s house) as a holiday tradition dates back to the early 20th century, when Christmas lights were invented as a safer alternative to the use of candles (which, when knocked over or bumped, had the unintended effect of turning one’s Christmas tree into a blazing demonstration of how quickly fire can engulf a house). Over the years, Christmas lights migrated from our trees to our houses (since, after all, you can’t see the lights from outside very well). It was a reasonable extension of the holiday spirit. When done in moderation.
But leave it to humans to find a way to turn a simple celebration of a holiday with some simple, colored lights into some sort of competition or grand statement:
Americans, though, like to take things to the extreme. They like extreme snow boarding, extreme makeovers, and extreme programming. It’s no wonder that some have found an outlet of expression with Christmas lights. It is an extreme behavior of an otherwise normal expression of a celebration of the holidays.
I think the core of why many people over-adorn their homes in Christmas lights is a desire to show off, attention-seeking behavior meant to demonstrate how into the holidays one is. At the same time, people who go overboard with Christmas lights are playing a ridiculous (but mostly harmless) game of one-upmanship with one’s neighbor.
This is made possible by the relative inexpensiveness of these lights in the U.S. (due largely to cheap Chinese labor). That makes a few strings of thousands of lights very affordable, at every income level. What people don’t take into consideration — at least not at first — is the cost of electricity. The old style, inexpensive Christmas lights most people still use become expensive once you start adding up hundreds (or even thousands) of watts of electricity. New LED Christmas lights are available and can help with this component, but most people have not purchased or replaced their existing lights (due in part because they are more expensive).
I stand by what I said five years ago, though:
If you’re one of these folks who can’t live without their million-light holiday display, seek help. Imagine how much better your gift to the world would be if you donated your electricity costs to a local charity or homeless shelter. Leave the holiday lighting spectaculars to Radio City Music Hall or professional displays found in most communities done in formal gardens or the like. Let’s try and get back to celebrating Christmas in a way that honors the heart of the tradition without turning it into some sort of glitzy and tacky sideshow of lighting horror.
A few lights on your tree, on your house, even on some shrubbery is perfectly fine. But resist the temptation to just keep adding to your Christmas lights inventory year after year, just because you can. Donate a little more to charity or spend it on a gift for your child, a child in need in your community, or your significant other. Because, after all, giving something away can make us happier. And what better way to celebrate this time of the year with none other than a little selfless giving?
Read the original article: Christmas Lighting Addiction.
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Bright Consumption - Plasma Pool (12/19/2009)
5 Comments to
“Christmas Lights Addiction, 2009”
Kenneth Lynch at 11:35 am on
December 9th, 2009Are you really wasting time on this? As you said it is mostly harmless except to a persons wallet. It could be worse they could be drowning their feelings of inadequacy with liquor or drugs.
Kara at 2:22 pm on
December 9th, 2009Ha their is a house in my neighborhood that I call the “griswolds” because you can see the house blinking from about a mile away. I pretty much have a seizure looking at this house.
314159pi at 3:22 am on
December 11th, 2009i think the house in you blog foto is so kewl. i would like a google maps address for it. i want to know if it can be seen from space!
regarding human behavior and lights at christmas. for some people it is a social statement of status and also a source for competition with their neighbors. this is a class issue. i don’t expect everybody to get it.
my late dad was a jewish accountant and sometimes i worked with him at one of our accounts in jersey city new jersey– a garbage hauler.
a lot of the workers would borrow money from shylocks to out do each other in external house decorations. you couldn’t stop them. i guess there are worse more dangerous forms of exuberance, just much less visible.
you don’t see the rich drunk guy in the suv after the office christmas party because he has tinted windows and everybody using a cell phone swerves on the road, right?
so who is the greater social danger!
clarke at 5:31 pm on
December 22nd, 2009There are two houses (opposite each other) in my suburb that have huge christmas displays. For several hours from dusk there is a steady stream of visitors to look at the lights, and most stand around chatting. Surely the community benefit that creates is well worth a couple of bucks?
crackbaby at 10:59 am on
December 23rd, 2009The xmas lighting addiction is even more dangerous when the lights spell out “Shop at Walmart”…….argh
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