Christmas Houses

 A main tradition for my family is to visit Christmas houses; we have two or three. 

As we drive, we listen to and debate the merits of seasonal albums; Mariah Carey ranks in the top tier for everyone, but yours truly has a controversially high level of tolerance for Kristin Chenoweth. My husband thinks the obscure retro tunes--"Christmas Island," "Christmas Waltz"--are grating and/or tedious. I can't agree. 

May all your dreams come true....

Well, this song of mine--

In three-quarter time--

Wishes you and yours...

The same thing, too....

I have no issue with the "meta" reference to three-quarter time, but my spouse feels that the writer is treading water with nonsense syllables.

The great thing about a Christmas house is that you do not need to wait in line, pay admission, or sit through previews. Also, the houses are not market-tested--each is a strange, wonderful expression of an idiosyncratic point of view. I feel this especially when I visit the "menagerie house" in Union, NJ. Someone has just amassed many, many, small, glowing, plastic pigs--and, if this were Disney World, the pigs would be doing something tasteful in a field. Since this is Union, NJ, the pigs are not tasteful; instead, they are surrogates for Mary and Jesus. Inexplicably, a little pig is standing, being beatific, in the middle of a manger.

Also, the folks across the street are too lazy to take down their ten-foot skeleton after Halloween--so, at this time of year, the skeleton wears a Grinch mask and a Santa suit. The odd, improvised, tacky quality of the skeleton is weirdly important to me; I know I would mourn the loss of this skeleton if he, or it, were ever retired.

My kids see the Christmas houses as little extensions of an imaginary petting zoo--so, however long we're visiting, my husband and I have the main task of separating children from display items. I know--eventually--I will miss this task, as well.

It's the first of January--so my Christmas houses will now suddenly evaporate. It's a brutal time of year. At least we've passed the solstice--we will have light "by other means," until next December.