Over the top, or not?

We've all been seeing Christmas lights adorning many houses and businesses this time of year. I don't know about you, but I certainly enjoy looking at them all as I pass by. Where did the tradition come from though? After some reading (mostly on the internet, I confess), I learned that the tradition of outdoor Christmas lights originated with the lighting of Christmas trees. In 1882, Thomas Edison and his partner Edward Johnson introduced the first electric Christmas lights for the purpose of decorating the Christmas tree. For years prior to this, people had been decorating Christmas trees with candles, but you can imagine the fire hazard that created! Unfortunately, in the late 1800s, only the incredibly wealthy could afford the electric lights. By 1920 though, due to technical and production improvements, most everyone could afford the decorative lights. In the 1940s, the marvelous Bubble Light was introduced, and by the end of the decade, Americans could buy lights that twinkled, blinked and flickered. Over a period of time, strings of Christmas lights began decorating places other than the Christmas tree, such as the mantle and windows, as well as along the rafters, roof lines, and porch railings.

When does it become too much though? Or is it all simply in the spirit of Christmas? Although the tradition of Christmas lights was born mostly out of a variety of secular traditions, they undeniably provide spirit-lifting light within our communities.

Here are some of the best displays we have seen in Memphis. Unfortunately, the pictures do not capture the true essence of the scenes, but hopefully you'll get the idea.

These two houses are actually next door to each other (just click on the picture to enlarge it)

And this is quite possibly the most over the top display I have ever seen. It definitely puts the Griswold's to shame! It is only about a half mile down the street from where we live. The guy that owns the house is out every night in a Santa costume greeting all of the people who drive by to see it. He also has Christmas tunes playing outside all evening. Albert spoke with him as he was taking pictures. He said that it takes him two and a half weeks to set it all up, and he's been doing it for 18 years now.

As you can probably tell from the pictures, both the ferris wheel and the carousel spin. What's even better though, is that two of the houses across the street are also decked out. The quality of the video is really poor, and it's pretty shaky because it was freezing outside. You can see the cars lining the sides of the street though, most of which had completely stopped in order to look.

So, what do you think? Completely over the top? Or all in the Christmas spirit?