Nina (the wife) and I have a few guilty pleasures. Driving around aimlessly at Christmastime and looking at the holiday lights is right at the top of the list. I love it. I love the garish and ridiculous tableaus of inflatable nativity scenes, running lights, sunglasses wearing snowmen, and cutout reindeer.
I’ve burned more gas this year cruising around and listing to Sufjan Stevens’ Songs for Christmas than I have going to work.
So far, we’ve seen inflatable Santa’s in every conceivable mode of transportation. Off the top of my head: Santa on a motorcycle, Santa driving a train, Santa captaining a tall ship, Santa piloting a plane, flying a helicopter, on cross-country skis, in a hot-air balloon, a canoe, a fishing boat, a NASCAR, crashing into a Christmas tree, in a stable filled with six (not eight?) reindeer, and backside-first climbing into houses.
We even saw an audio-animatronics Santa singing and dancing with a voice and cadence that sounds more like Beelzebub than jolly old St. Nick.
Here is a collection of some of the best houses we’ve seen. Note the garage filled with a life-sized manger scene…that’s my personal favorite. Please excuse the poor picture quality; these were taken with my cell phone rather than a proper camera. Next year, I’ll be sure to bring the goods.
