Christmas Yard Displays - Part 3 (Final)

So, here’s my point, the reason I think some homeowners apply themselves with such evident devotion to their yard lighting and ornamentation.

Christmas yard lighting displays are one of a dwindling number of safe havens for individual expression anymore. You still have the freedom to put up pretty much any kind of display you want to without concerning yourself that some cry baby is going to claim he was offended by you and report you to some authority or initiate a class action suit (certain gated-communities, excepted).

There are a few other havens suitable to freely expressing yourself. You can go to a major sports event dressed like any kind of character imaginable and act up like a drunken frat boy and the crowd cheers you on. Fashion is another. In some venues, you can dress as outrageously as you want (probably not in Kona, though) and if you are famous and/or slender, people will remark about how bold, daring and chic you are (before they go home and laugh their butts off).

But for the rest of us, we who are trying to maintain some degree of dignity, the more viable option is to light up the yard in a unique and individual - i.e., not in a committee consensus - way. Granted, some displays are more beautiful than others, and some just make you shake your head and think, “huh?” (see photo above)

But to me, each one is in some measure a representation of the deep and abiding need people have to maintain a connection to the traditions of their past and hope for the future, and more importantly, to express the uniqueness of their individual lives and affirm their personal significance in the midst of a society that more and more tries to deny them that. I’m all for their efforts. I think it’s healthy. We need to see each other more and more as the unique individuals that God made us and to remember that we bear His image. We might give some special thought to that during this season.