Does anyone have any ideas on how to encourage others in your neighborhood to put up outdoor Christmas lights on their homes again? The people where I live have been praising the Lord with two bright white lights for two or three years now at Christmas time instead of enjoying this festive holiday. I am worried about them.
By Jazzmin Flower from Alta Loma, CA
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I found that the first year in my new house my neighbor started putting up lights the weekend after I did. The more lights I would put up the more they would buy. Of course they eventually gave up and figured out that I have a barn full of lights and decorations but this year they put up even more decorations and more people all together down our road put up more decorations next year. So the best way is just friendly competition!
I enjoy your enthusiasm but you may not know why they are choosing not to decorate. Perhaps they are on a tight budget and don't have the funds for the decorations or extra utility costs. I think the friendly neighborhood competition idea sounds fun, but the fact that some don't decorate for the holidays does not mean they are spiritually at risk.
Because you choose to do something such as put up christmas lights why does every one have to. Isn't that bullying the neighbors to conform to your thinking. I wouldn't worry about the neighbors, they are most likely worried about your behavior. Not everyone is a conformist.
The people near where I live are all being alike, though, all putting up two white bright lights for the Lord instead of having the festive pretty holiday. It's sad to see them all giving up on such a beautiful holiday to praise the Lord even more. They praise the Lord every Sunday. Isn't that enough?
IceyPink1, Huh?
I guess I'm more than a little lost on this thread? "Who" are you calling "bullies"? What's the reference to "two white lights"? Just where in the New Testament of the Holy Bible does it say we have to decorate our yards and homes with plastic and wire figures, bows and ribbons, and electrical lights and gadgets to praise the Lord?
Honestly, I'm not trying to be testy here. I just don't understand the sentiment, at all. Could you please be more succinct? If I've misunderstood your comments, my apologies. If not, please explain further. Thank you.
Colorful lights and trees are for signalling to Santa Claus and the reindeer.
Regardless of a person's faith, the decision of whether to decorate or not is theirs, not yours. Most of the problems in this world are caused by some people trying to get others to do something they don't want want and don't have to do.
I'm "flabbergasted!" Christmas is not about who has the most beautiful decorations or keeping up with the neighbors. If I put out lights like my neighbors I wouldn't be able to pay the electric bill. Maybe your neighbors are frugal like some of us on this site. Not everybody celebrates in the same way. I've learned in my "old" age to live and let live. Don't stress yourself out over such a trivial matter.
Isn't the Lord's holiday supposed to be in January?
May I speak, (without meaning to offend) for the other side? Lights in your yard are fine. If they light up other peoples gardens they are an intrusion. Some of us prefer just darkness and the stars especially at Christmas. Bethlehem did not have a neon sign.
I think several of you all are making a mountain out of the question! How big are the lights ? Are they spot lights! I would not want 2 big spot lights in my neighborhood. I think it would not hurt anyone to buy a box of $2.00 lights and decorate a little. I also think we all have the sense to know that if we have a senior citizen in our neighborhood they are not able to decorate. I just can't imagine living in a house and not putting something up outside if it is just lights or wrealths.
I find myself in the position of spearheading an effort to inspire people in my neighborhood to revive a grand old tradition of putting up outdoor Christmas lights(my neighborhood was once famous for its lights), and I would LOOVE some suggestions on how to do that. At the suggestion of some neighbors who've lived here for decades, I plan to compose and [recruit volunteers to] distribute flyers, detailing the effort, and maybe specifying a "get-the-lights-out" weekend, during which as many people as possible put their lights out, and help others put theirs out.
I plan to make it clear that this is *completely* voluntary, and that there will be no repercussions for those who choose not to participate.
I'd love to hear input and ideas from others, and, yeah, I realize that it's just May. lol
I started a Christmas decorating tradition in my neighborhood for several years, I am buying Happy Chanukah cards to give out to the people who just refuse to decorate(I live in an expensive neighborhood where people should have no problem finding a few bucks, also I have volunteered a few elderly people my assistance in decorating) in order to hopefully motivate them. In my mind the only legit reason to not decorate for Christmas is if you are Jewish.
There are lots of reasons people don't put up lights, perhaps they are infirm or just don't care to. We put up lights every year and have won contests in the past. However, I'm sure one day we won't want to anymore. I put up lights for some of my neighbors too. I've actually given away lots of our lights as I'm sick of the headache but will still put up my favorites and am also trying to spear head a neighborhood competition. Nobody needs to put up lights and not because of their faith, just because. You do you, let others do what works for them.
Jesus is the reason for the season!
Everyone personally celebrates the season in their own way depending on their own religious, or non-religious, beliefs. Me? I put up two red stringers (for the blood of Christ) Christmas lights early in the season on my patio (the day after Thanksgiving) in hopes they will remind neighbors of the 'Reason for the Season' but I don't expect others to do the same.
The only thing I can think of to try to encourage your neighbors more is to offer to help them hang their lights for them and/or to help with their added electric bill cost if they are on a low or fixed income. This would actually be a great opportunity to be witnessing and for Christian fellowship. Otherwise just keep cheerfully putting up your decorations and don't worry about it, okay?
IceyPink1, Your comments make no sense and especially in regards to what others have posted here! And Christ is indeed celebrated in December for the last seven days of December and the first 6 days of January; the 6th of January being Epiphany. You also need to look up the history of Santa, Christmas trees, candy canes, Christmas lights, the twelve days of Christmas, etc. Oh, and remember the gifts the three wise men brought to Baby Jesus? Gift giving in the name of the Messiah (who gave the ultimate gift) wasn't an original idea by good old Saint Nickolas/Kris Kringle/Santa Claus ;-)
Really, it's none of your business what your neighbors do in the privacy of their own property as long as they aren't disturbing others. Why is this big deal over decorating anyway? You do your thing and let others do what they want, for all you know, they may not celebrate Christmas but have their own time for celebration. You are lucky to live in a free country where people have a choice of what to do.
The world has a shortage of fuel, electricity is costly both for us personally and for the planet. Some people believe the responsible thing to do is not have lights!
Of course if you do offer to help them with more lights you run the risk of them pointing out that perhaps they don't like yours. What then? Will you alter yours? If not, why not? This reminds me of people who think that we all want to have their music thumping through the house. We all live too close for this sort of "individuality" these days. Marg from England.
I've never heard of this "two lights for the Lord." Where does it come from?
Where I live in the mid-west, I can't imagine wondering why people put up lights or don't put up lights. I enjoy going out one night a year to look at Christmas lights, but it's really none of my business if someone chooses to not put up lights. Sometimes we put up lights and sometimes we don't.
When I was a child, we always had a tree (my Dad wasn't crazy about the idea, he thought it was a Babylonian tradition like a lot of very conservative Christians still think), but never put up outside Christmas lights. And to be honest, I never gave it a second thought.
Unless you've talked with your neighbors about how they choose to celebrate Christmas, you never know their reasons. If they've put up Christmas lights in the past and now they don't, maybe they're disabled, maybe the Christmas season has painful memories for them, maybe they've chose to celebrate another way. Whatever reason, it's their choice.
Jazzmin Flower a.k.a. IceyPink1,
With all sincere respect, your question posted as Jazzmin Flower is a good question but just because you didn't happen to like one or more of the first three answers left for you, you jump in as IceyPink1 and stir things up with comments that don't make sense and then continue to stir things up with additional comments after other comments are left by others after that.
The purpose of ThriftyFun and the ThriftyFun Family Community is to try to be helpful to one another but we all have our own opinions and just because any of us might not like the answers to our questions does not mean we should turn it into pouting by leaving a post like, "Don't make me wish I hadn't started this thread." but rather we should keep our minds open to other ideas and opinions.
I see you mention you live in Alta Loma (Rancho Cucamonga), CA. I grew up in Southern California and I can guarantee those two bright white (flood) lights you speak of are up and turned on every single night of the year for security reasons and not just for enjoying the season praising our Lord or Santa.
And perhaps, just the same as people who choose not to celebrate Jesus, others choose not celebrate Santa. Please allow your fellow citizens to celebrate and decorate as they wish to do in our free to choose America.
User IDs are not necessarily a members name. My name is what it is. I like to use a more playful User ID tag/nick/call name. As for the lights being for security purposes, as you stated, that is not the norm for Alta Loma. As a matter of fact they prefer to have their homes in the black, with a few lights atop their fences in random numbers of regular white lights. I've been here almost 19 years and that is what I have observed. Often times they stay in pitch black.
This is actually in the next town over where they have all conformed to the two white lights. Maybe I should take a photo and post it.
Jazzmin Flower "IceyPink1"
At a home nearby in the next neighborhood the people who live there put up one green light and one red light instead of the two white lights. That is a lot more festive.
You're very Blessed, IceyPink, to live in a neighborhood in Alta Loma that likes it dark. A dear friend of mine also lives in Alta Loma (for about the same amount of time as you) and when I visited she and her husband for a few days a couple of years ago everyone in their neighborhood had floodlights on their garages and lights on their porch and patios kept on during the entire night and it wasn't even during the Christmas Season.
I am still not familiar with "two lights for the Lord" Could someone please explain it? I've googled it and have come up with no answers.
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