CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: SuperMario on November 29, 2023, 09:08:10 PM
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Well we are officially about to hit December and I spent a good two hours outside in the snow, creating a candy cane lit driveway leading to the front door.
Tomorrow is the light up deer and light up snowman.
I really truly dislike decorating the exterior of the house for the season, but started doing it once I had kids. Last year they missed out so this year I’m trying to make it special.
So what do you guys do? Do you decorate at all? Do you pay someone to put up Christmas lights? Do you straight Clark Griswold it?
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My wife does the decorating. I usually sit on the porch while she's on the roof to watch and see if she falls off. Hasn't happened yet.
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one tree and thats it
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I have a house that would look great with lights lining the roofline but it’s really high, and my roof is steep, and I’m not a big fan of heights.
We do lights along our sidewalk, and then lights in the bushes in our landscaping. We also do garland and lights on our front porch railings. We have a couple of light up reindeer, and then several just little stick in the ground decorations.
Then we have six spotlights that shine on the house with wreaths in the windows.
No one drives by my house and thinks “Oh that’s beautiful.” It’s more like, “That’s cute.”
Last year, our town’s Facebook page handed out Christmas decorating awards and our house got “Most Whimsical.” We couldn’t decide if that was a backhanded compliment or not. Lol. But we don’t care.
The inside is more classically beautiful, imo. My wife does a nice job with it. She does the majority of the inside decorating and I do the majority of the outside.
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Well we are officially about to hit December and I spent a good two hours outside in the snow, creating a candy cane lit driveway leading to the front door.
Tomorrow is the light up deer and light up snowman.
I really truly dislike decorating the exterior of the house for the season, but started doing it once I had kids. Last year they missed out so this year I’m trying to make it special.
So what do you guys do? Do you decorate at all? Do you pay someone to put up Christmas lights? Do you straight Clark Griswold it?
I decorate. Our first house was ideal for decorating, and looked great. Our current house is impossible without killing yourself. The entire right side is just driveway even with the basement and then two stories above that.
So I do the porch and garden, but that just covers the left side. For the first time this year, a bunch of neighbors outsourced it. I might do that next year, not out of laziness, but because I don't feel like climbing 50 feet up on a ladder to put up trim
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(https://i.imgur.com/5jJlmvJ.jpg)
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Not exactly Griswold but we love our lights. I do all of the outdoor decorating.
I just do the multi-color incandescent C9s along the roofline, and the icicle lights under the front porch eves.
Then I made all of the Christmas trees and snowflakes out of pallets and scrap wood. I wanted a vintage/old school look and I think I got it.
My mom made the lighted garland around the front door and the matching wreath.
Overall effect seems to look pretty good I think.
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We do a modest amount , couple old school illuminated Santa's. Light garland on front gate fence.
All my neighbors outsource Mega white lights to the Point where my one neighbor says I'm closet Jewish.
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We do a modest amount , couple old school illuminated Santa's. Light garland on front gate fence.
All my neighbors outsource Mega white lights to the Point where my one neighbor says I'm closet Jewish.
That may be my problem
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No. No tree, no lights, nothing really.
I'm not all bah-humbug. I just get PLENTY of visual Christmasy stuff out in the world. Why come home to it?
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I think we're allowed some lights on the deck railing, not sure. My wife does whatever gets done. I was pretty bah humbug back when I had a house.
You put it up, you take it down ...
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Blue LED net lights on the yews in front of the house and warm white LED icicle lights on the deck railings.
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When I had the kids in the house, we did Christmas decorations big. ( same with Halloween, Easter,etc)
It’s awesome because the kids love it, and now that they are grown up? They are doing the exact same thing. It’s really fun to watch.
Now that it is just me and the Mrs. we put up two small trees that we really enjoy, and the lights are extremely visible from people who would drive by
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There are of course houses in each city that do a Griswold and get drive bys as a result.
Fine with me.
I went to this once, my wife really really liked it and wants to go back. I saw it once, fine with me. Iy was crowded. It astonishes me how much work goes into this thing, we go there during the day and watch all the prep at times.
Atlanta Botanical Garden | Garden Lights, Holiday Nights (atlantabg.org) (https://atlantabg.org/plan-your-visit/atlanta-garden-calendar/garden-lights-holiday-nights/)
(https://i.imgur.com/mFbQjdN.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/1fG0mwC.jpg)
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I'm more interested in this expansion, it looks pretty neat. We live close by and enjoy strolling through fairly often, it's quite nice when not packed.
Fresh images: How Atlanta Botanical Garden would meet the BeltLine | Urbanize Atlanta (https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/botanical-garden-beltline-expansion-project-fresh-images)
Might go today, supposed to be pretty nice.
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I have a set of neighbors that usually keep their house decorated with political signs. After Thanksgiving, they put a star of David made out of Christmas lights, and raised it to the top of a gigantic flag pole that towers over their house. I said "wow, I never would have expected them to be Jewish. They are really right wing."
"Oh, they're just showing their support for Israel." I was told. Man, I've been out east too long. I totally thought that they were getting a head start on their Hanukkah decorations.
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My wife does the inside and I do outside. Ladders are not my thing anymore, so if I can't get at it with a step stool, it's not getting touched. Bushes, garage door, front door, etc.
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Sorry. Shitter was full.
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(https://i.imgur.com/5jJlmvJ.jpg)
This is really nice, Clark, realllly nice. A real beut!
Does your grass go dormant at this time? Ours never does here.
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This is really nice, Clark, realllly nice. A real beut!
Does your grass go dormant at this time? Ours never does here.
Yup, our St. Augustine is dormant from December through early March.
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I think this is going to be the last year with the pallet trees, though. I don't have a great place to store them so they end up cluttering around the pool equipment on the side of the house. My i s c & a aggie wife does not like this, and has made it known that this is not a sustainable situation.
So now I'm trying to think of something simple in the front yard that doesn't take up as much storage space but looks good. In years past I've wrapped the tree trunks, which I like fine. I really like vintage-y stuff, I prefer that old time family Christmas.
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https://youtu.be/e2I-_tIDV-4
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Yup, our St. Augustine is dormant from December through early March.
sucks when that's my window to visit Texas and play golf
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I did lots of lights and decorating back when my daughters were young
it stopped when they were 14 & 16 and wouldn't come out to help
now that they're out of the house, I put a string of lights on my back deck railing
I live on a dead-end street and I leave for Texas on the 20th
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Ours is pretty modest. I also don't like heights so I don't put them up on the top of the garage roofline peak.
Just icicle lights along the frame of the garage door and net lights on the two bushes aside it, and then in front of the other side of the house net lights on two other bushes, some "lantern" lights, and a few LED christmas tree things. Wreath on the door, my wife's garden flag and decorative pillows on the chairs in front of the house, and a poinsettia. And then we're done with outside.
Indoor decorations are definitely more extensive. I get the job of lighting the Christmas tree because I'm OCD so it is a meticulous process, and then she's in charge of the ornaments or else I'd be standing there picking one up and asking her "where does this go?" and she gets really annoyed by that. Plus I'm colorblind so I have trouble picking out the red ornaments against the green tree. Where I think there's a gap, there's often a red ornament.
Although in typical fashion, it seems that every year brings a handful of new decorations, and every year it gets more extensive. Somehow I suspect that will continue, and 10 years from now it'll be a lot closer to Griswold status. Especially if we have a house we don't hate.
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We only do a couple things outside, not much at all.
Inside is like Christmas got pregnant and then gave birth to Christmas triplets. That's my wife.
I do enjoy homes that go all out, though, and while we don't have a whole lot of that around here, I've always liked to find the neighborhoods that do tons of decorating and drive around when it gets cold. Or walk around in the old days, not so much anymore.
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When I was a kid I remember my parents putting us in the car and taking us to see Candy Cane Lane in Lincolnwood, IL. That was something.
Google it and you'll see what I mean.
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Yup, our St. Augustine is dormant from December through early March.
Landscapers are out right now cutting my grass. Cannot do lawn decoration here.
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we do not. we only put some wreaths up on windows outside. we're out in country and can't see our house from road, so no one else will see it and we'll be inside so we won't see it.
we do go pretty big inside. big tree, real of course. kitchen cabinets have lights and garland. christmas dishes are out. living room also has garland and lights in places, plus the books/photos on tv cab get replaced with about 40 nutcrackers (get a new one every year). kids all have their own trees in their rooms, plus some lights/garland/whatever they like for decorating. handful of other things as well around the house.
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Landscapers are out right now cutting my grass. Cannot do lawn decoration here.
My guys just cut around all the stuff during October/Halloween.
(https://i.imgur.com/cSNT8Eq.jpg)
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Last year, our town’s Facebook page handed out Christmas decorating awards and our house got “Most Whimsical.” We couldn’t decide if that was a backhanded compliment or not. Lol. But we don’t care.
haha.. I'm not sure I would have known how to take that either. As long as your family likes it
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When I was a kid I remember my parents putting us in the car and taking us to see Candy Cane Lane in Lincolnwood, IL. That was something.
Google it and you'll see what I mean.
lol.. that made me want to stop with the strip of candy cane lights I put up yesterday. I have little desire to do something even remotely close to that. Although it's amazingly impressive.
We have something similar one city over, where it's crazy .. LINK (https://northeastohiofamilyfun.com/crown-point-parkway-festival-lights/)
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My guys just cut around all the stuff during October/Halloween.
These aren't "my guys". They work for the HOA so I have no real influence at all.
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NOPE but inside Cindy truly has a gift for design/decorating.I thought that feng shui thingy was an oriental food truck - she gets compliments galore.Nobody credits me for the old school Pabst case the tree sits on every year though
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NOPE but inside Cindy truly has a gift for design/decorating.I thought that feng shui thingy was an oriental food truck - she gets compliments galore.Nobody credits me for the old school Pabst case the tree sits on every year though
(https://i.imgflip.com/5fy6gv.jpg)
we salute you, @MrNubbz (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=17)
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haha.. I'm not sure I would have known how to take that either. As long as your family likes it
(https://i.imgur.com/qtkxasG.jpg)Whimsical. 😁
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don't look right w/o snow
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Time to put ole Snow Job on the case.
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/q_1h07cNJUQ/hqdefault.jpg)
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I sometimes muse about how "we" humans like pretty colors and water falls. I include me in that.
My wife likes jewelry. I kid her that she has no more room for more of it. What is the point of so much jewelry? She's already married. I wear a wedding ring, and a watch. I do try and be semi-presentable in public. She could wear the same stuff day after day and I'd not notice, nor would anyone else.
If I see some woman with some huge rock I think she's just flaunting it for some kind of status. We go to an occasional dinner with symphony donors and some of them do this of course, I know they are generally wealthy. I don't care about their "status" one bit. The men I've had occasion to chat with are usually MDs or lawyers. Fine with me. I just say I'm retired and leave it at that, unless they persist.
Why does a 60+ year old retired human worry about status? Rhetorical, and I digress.
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Why do people still wear watches?
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Why do people still wear watches?
I didn't for a few years. IIRC, my watch died and it just didn't bother me enough to replace it.
Now I do, but it's a Garmin smart watch that is useful for tracking steps, exercise, heart rate, etc. I got that when I was hiking a ton, but then have found it useful for golf (GPS with distance to green), and for pairing my heart rate to my exercise bike so I can quantify how hard I'm pushing myself...
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Why do people still wear watches?
i was recently given a smart watch, and the only reason i really wear it is because now i get a slight buzz on my wrist instead of a blarrign ring in my ear when receiving a call or text. so, kind of ironically, my phone, which replaced my watch as my 'watch', has now been at least partially replaced by my watch as my 'phone'. rarely do i look at my watch for the time and likewise rarely do i now look at my phone to see who is calling/texting.
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I wear a golf watch while I'm on the course
otherwise, my cell phone is an amazing time piece
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The funny thing is that my "phone" is just one of the myriad apps available to me on my phone.
And that despite it being the reason that device got it's name, it's the app that I really try to use as little as possible.
I swear my first response when it starts buzzing is "who the HELL is calling me?!"
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My phone doesn't ring unless the caller is in address book.
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Why does a 60+ year old retired human worry about status? Rhetorical, and I digress.
Says the bastage whose team finished 1st in the polls the last two seasons in CFB
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Why do people still wear watches?
Never seen a Bond movie have you?
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My phone doesn't ring unless the caller is in address book.
I don't like it ringing even then.
At least text me first, tell me you want to call, and ask about a good time. Don't just spring it on me.
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I don't think that confers any status to me personally. I guess it removes some status deficits is anyone sees me in UGA gear, not that I care, but before someone might quip "Haven't won anything in 40 years ...", which was true.
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I didn't for a few years. IIRC, my watch died and it just didn't bother me enough to replace it.
Now I do, but it's a Garmin smart watch that is useful for tracking steps, exercise, heart rate, etc. I got that when I was hiking a ton, but then have found it useful for golf (GPS with distance to green), and for pairing my heart rate to my exercise bike so I can quantify how hard I'm pushing myself...
Prolly graphs the steps you take coming back from the home brewers meeting.Twice as many as it took to get there
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Prolly graphs the steps you take coming back from the home brewers meeting.Twice as many as it took to get there
Yeah, it definitely takes several times longer to get home.
The difference is staggering.
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I like watches. I wear them strictly as an accessory.
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I don't wear anything that resembles jewelry or an accessory
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I had some half decent watches until I got this Apple watch, now they are in a drawer somewhere.
I had an interesting conversation with a sales person at Hermes (my wife was there). I asked how he assessed whether someone walking in was serious or not, and he said "shoes first, then watch". A wealthy dude might come in in sweats, but his shoes and watch will usually be higher end stuff.
My wife asked for a Hermes scarf for Christmas, probably not going to happen. She has about ten anyway.
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I don't wear anything that resembles jewelry or an accessory
(https://i.imgur.com/uQGsXJT.png)
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that stuff is for guys like Coach Prime
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I like watches. I wear them strictly as an accessory.
I carry a pocket watch and wear a monocle at all times.
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(https://i.imgur.com/ZLQxX66.png)
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(https://i.imgur.com/ZLQxX66.png)
Wow that’s actually brilliant.
I think I’m officially stopping here. If I start lights on the house it becomes too big of a project.
(https://i.imgur.com/ouFCtkx.jpg)
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There is a guy about a mile from our house that has a whole yard full of the 20-foot inflatables.
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Atlanta Botanical Garden named “The Great Christmas Light Fight” champion – WSB-TV Channel 2 - Atlanta (wsbtv.com) (https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta-botanical-garden-named-great-christmas-light-fight-champion/26LU4ZBQZREMZHUWSQW36VOTVY/?fbclid=IwAR0uHz3dwJORlapNzQBxfTynh-u2ZwuiGkVel4FZXBcCz7MacOFEYBqE2bo)
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I actually watched some of that with the kids last night. It came on after "Santa Claus is Coming To Town."
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We've been, my wife really likes it, I'm more amazed at all the work that goes into it. We can see the work "for free" during the day, then they close down and only admit paying folks, and it ain't cheap. And it's crowded.
Humans are fascinated with lights and colors.
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Yup.
Austin has a "Trail of Lights" that's set up in part of one of our biggest municipal parks, adjacent to downtown along the lake that bisects the city. It's really pretty and fun to see, and when I was a kid it was free and you could easily park nearby and walk through it.
That's when the city was around 300,000.
Now that the entire metro area is over 2M, it's a complete clusterF. It's expensive, you have to buy tickets months in advance, parking is minimal so you have to ride a shuttle from an old nearly-abandoned mall that's about 4 miles away. Total experience is a beating.
Still, we took the kids a few years back, just so they could experience the same thing we did when we were kids. They liked it but agreed it was a beating.
Anyway, it's still pretty to look at:
(https://i.imgur.com/S1tpBlN.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/YSHTxi0.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/yLGC4Jp.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NabBKo7.jpg)
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That looks neat, like a "see once" event. We're fortunate that we can walk to the Botanical Garden here easily. Traffic of course gets really botched at night, so we avoid that road. During the day it's fine.
I remember as a kid we'd drive around some to see lights, I was envious that some other houses really did the Griswold thing and we just had a tree.
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That looks neat, like a "see once" event. We're fortunate that we can walk to the Botanical Garden here easily. Traffic of course gets really botched at night, so we avoid that road. During the day it's fine.
I remember as a kid we'd drive around some to see lights, I was envious that some other houses really did the Griswold thing and we just had a tree.
As high school kids with not much money and not much to do, we'd go down and visit it at least once per year. It was a good place to take a girl and maybe make out a little bit, off in a darkened corner.
And as a native Austinite, it was also a good UT date night place, to take girls from other cities who hadn't grown up with it.
Now, it's just 2 million people all clogging it up and getting in your way. Total beating. I asked the kids last year if they wanted to go back and they said "nah."
My neighborhood and a couple of nearby ones tend to do a LOT of Christmas decorating, so we still walk or drive around looking at lights, at least a couple times every Christmas season.
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There's a cul de sac near us where every house participates. They don't ALL go all-out, but every house does at least something. Each one has large wooden board decorated with a verse of "Twas The Night Before Christmas" and then usually some lights and decorations that might match the theme of the verse. They set up a fire pit in the center of the cul de sac, under a large Christmas tree made of light strings that starts at a center pole and has a string of lights that goes out to each and every house. At the center they also man a table with free snacks and hot chocolate on weekend nights (they accept donations). It gets busy so you have to park a couple of blocks away and walk through it all, it's a lot of fun. I have no idea how they divvy up the power bill for the centralized lights...
Aerial view:
(https://i.imgur.com/jRiuv9r.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/7mFhGU7.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/vbUYkkJ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/UcPJh5P.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/XZ2G3XD.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ILS2EpY.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/tZxmutr.jpg)
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Yup.
Austin has a "Trail of Lights" that's set up in part of one of our biggest municipal parks, adjacent to downtown along the lake that bisects the city. It's really pretty and fun to see, and when I was a kid it was free and you could easily park nearby and walk through it.
That's when the city was around 300,000.
Now that the entire metro area is over 2M, it's a complete clusterF. It's expensive, you have to buy tickets months in advance, parking is minimal so you have to ride a shuttle from an old nearly-abandoned mall that's about 4 miles away. Total experience is a beating.
Still, we took the kids a few years back, just so they could experience the same thing we did when we were kids. They liked it but agreed it was a beating.
Anyway, it's still pretty to look at:
(https://i.imgur.com/S1tpBlN.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/YSHTxi0.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/yLGC4Jp.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NabBKo7.jpg)
Yikes....that was still a pretty small affair when I was there. I think the city was probably like like 5-6 hundred k when I lived there. It blew up exponentially when I left, from what I can tell.
Austin's trail of lights will probably always remind me of this knockout gorgeous Brazilian chick I took there to wander around with me. She barely spoke any English at the time and I spoke no Portuguese. Talking is overrated anyway.
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I hope all of these lights are hooked up to solar.
Heh.
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Ha!
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I think humans are largely a bored species.
Once we mastered (more or less) agriculture etc., "we" had free time and were bored with much of it.
So, to break up the monotony, we travel to places to see things, like fancy light shows. And go ooh ahh. And write on Internet message boards our pithy observations.
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No, no “Griswolding” our place.
However, for our office Christmas decorating contest, we “Griswolded” our door:
(https://i.imgur.com/ssdZkf1.jpg)
Our section won 3rd Place 🏆
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I have a theory that Christmas Vacation is the greatest Christmas ever made, while Christmas Vacation 2 is the worst Christmas movie ever made.
(https://www.joblo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/christmasvaca2.jpg)
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The same theory can be reasoned for A Christmas Story:
(https://i.imgur.com/f5DrYZ1.jpg)
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I've never seen either of those two movies, and that will continue to remain true.
I did watch "A Christmas Story Christmas" when it came out. It wasn't great, but it did hit all the right nostalgic notes and had some obvious but welcome call-backs to the original.
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(https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/e015ee8ae7b04a51809a5a4531b9f4c4/800.webp)
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(https://i.imgur.com/uSEbP86.jpg)