my personal p.s.a. ~ don't over-decorate.

fyi, i have had this tradition with sarah (i think it's officially a tradition... three years makes it so, right?) where we drive through a certain neighborhood and laugh at a life-sized nativity scene. i thought it would be funny to share this with kelly last night after we completeyl ignored school for the night and joined tim to see the movie closer (SUPERB btw).
so after the movie, kelly, tim, and i drove into this neighborhood ( that we decided must have a prerequisite of tacky decorations to live in... one house after the other i tell you). driving around aimlessly, hoping to just come across it, took us to a plethora of badly decorated homes. granted, the "go packers" in green and yellow lights on the side of a house was in perfect bubble letters... but that's just not cute. i can understand the love of the season, but please don't just hang lights for the sake to hang lights. it not only looks tacky, but you get kids like us passing your house and taking pictures on our camera phones b/c of the awe you have put us in.
so anyway, we finally find the nativity scene in front of a ranch-style house, proably making it look even bigger. but i am not joking here folks. the first wise man on the left is only a few inches shorter than me (we know this, of course, by kelly posing for a picture next to it). you see, it doesn't just have baby jesus, mary, and joseph, but also a shepard, a couple sheep, a camel, and all three wise men. damn close to life size. i feel as though this should be illegal. what is so appealing about light-up plastic people in your front lawn? i am not saying you should ignore the real reason for christmas, nor am i making fun of jesus christ... but come on people. get your act together. do you not see how tacky the normal size ones are? let alone a life sized full family of large plastic men. i like lights... preferably white lights... not draping over everything in a lawn, but strategically placed. perhaps a wreath or two... my mom likes garland and red ribbons. what pulls all of these people toward the tackiness of the season? it's funny, but we're not laughing with you. if my family insisted on moving characters in my front window (as a certain house in elm grove prefers), i wouldn't want anyone coming over. [sigh] so you know, let's try changing the world one house at a time. don't over-decorate. it's tacky. and if you over decorate, and disagree, i'd really like to know why you do it. we were pretty close to knocking on doors last night and asking. why do it? is it cute to you? do you think it's funny? do you hope people stop and look? please explain. or, even better, don't over-do it. silly people.