Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Colors for the holidays 2003

So every year the holiday decorations offered in department stores seem to take on a different color theme and different 'icon' which they push more than others.

For instance, rather than the traditional red and green, here in Salt Lake City we have an abundance of offerings in blue, white and silver and lavender this year. In addition to Santa, there is also the icon of snowmen very big this season.

Here the majority of homes are decorated in plain, white lights. For the past five years the lights tend to be hanging icile type rather than traditional strings of lights. It's pretty, but I like white on government buildings like City Hall or churches, and colored lights on homes, and huge gaudy colored light displays on businesses.

Also this year the 'blow up' ten to twelve foot yard decorations are big. They are sort of like having a hot air balloon on your front lawn. They sold out of 'The Grinch' here (that's what Scott wanted to put up!) so we bought a Christmas tree blow-up and a 'Bart Simpson' in a Santa suit. Also, big procrastinators that we are, neither of them is on display yet...

So what are they doing where you live??

Poor old Croydon has the samerather worn looking display as last year (and the previous five years) in the town centre. The only part of it that is pretty is in the dark skeletal trees are stings on little white lights - now they are pretty!

I was in Elephant and Castle two nights ago and outside of the tube station and accross the roundabout there is a rather grim brutalist concrete estate with a daunting huge wall of apartment windows looking over the street. In the middle of the block there are three windows with lights - the end two are circles, the middle is a 'I' shape and hanging between the end two is a jaunty string of lights - :-) -it looks like a great big clowns face on the side of this otherwise monolith to style long dead.... pure quality!

Did you have to use the word "clown"...

I hate clowns!

They scare me...

They scare me too, but it was a pretty almost clown face - red nose, big wide eyes, big smile.... not phycho harlequind garbed bad goth make up and frilly cuffs type clown.

OK OK. I'll go look, but only if you will protect me...

If I must then I guess so... will a protective arm around you do for starters.... obviously if it's scary we can think of some other way for me to comfort you

I think I must live in a fairly non-festive (or procrastinative) neighborhood. Hardly anyone's put up any lights yet!

There is one house not too far away that's known for their HUGE array of Christmas lights -- it's a local tradition, and people drive from all around just to check it out. Their rather narrow residential street becomes completely backed up around this time of year.

There are also a couple of "drive-through" and "walk-through" holiday displays of lights, but those seem to be popular everywhere. I visited one a few years back that was really cool -- they had piped in holiday music on the local AM station, so all you had to do was turn on your radio for instant atmosphere!

Most everyone here puts electric candles in their windows, either singles or groups of five. And reindeer made of birch logs in the front yard. No new colours, though.

The icicles lights were really popular 2 years ago, but now people have gone back to more variety. The inflatable decorations are appearing too, first time I've seen them.

I was in school in the U.S. during the energy crisis of the 70s (72 or 73?) and remember going home by bus up through New England - everything was dark at night. As soon as we crossed into Canada, the Xmas lights were everywhere. It was the strangest thing to see. There must have been an "energy crisis" for Canada too that year, but it certainly didn't have the same effect on the people.