Growing up in Chicago we lived on a fairly busy street. We had to go down the block and around the corner to play with friends and it was more residential. Some people decorated their windows and most would have a tree in front of the window. I remember we'd pile into the car and drive out to the suburbs to see full-blown outdoor decorations. I couldn't believe the lengths people would go through for the holidays. Really extravagant. But we loved it and looked forward to it every year.
My parents owned an apartment house, and we lived on the first floor. There really wasn't any place for outdoor decorations. One year my dad outlined the living room window with lights. We were so excited and ran outside to see our window. One year, mom bought two sets of large red bells. She hung one pair in the living room window and the other pair in her bedroom window, both windows faced the street. When plugged in, the first bell would blink on and the second bell would blink off, then the second bell would blink on and the first bell would blink off. We'd go across the street to see them blink and think how pretty they were. That's about the extent of "outdoor decorations" while growing up.
The past few years, my husband has been the outdoor decoration king of our street. Shortly after Thanksgiving the tree of lights go up in the front yard. The next day it might be the house lights. Then he'll string some color lights on our 94 year old neighbor's house to get her in the holiday mood (and he loves doing it). We've seen people at night drive by our house several times to see the size of the tree. You can even see the top of our tree from several blocks away. Anyway, it makes us all smile and happy and we look forward to our very own outdoor decorations each year. Thank you honey, love you much!
Thank you Dr. Bill. I've been enjoying myself.
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