Every family has their own holiday traditions that they hold dear. Some families bake cookies. Others sing carols. My family calls ourselves the "Christmas snobs" and grades other people's Christmas light displays. Confused? Let me explain.
My family has always taken great pride in our outdoor Christmas decor. We like to keep it simple, yet tasteful. All of our lights are symmetrical and we never mix colors. Our pine tree out front is always nicely wrapped in lights and our antique wooden snowmen are strategically placed to make the yard look neat and not cluttered. Every year after decorating we all take a step back and admire our own little winter wonderland. Since we care so much about our lights naturally we always take notice to others' decor. A very strange, yet extremely funny Christmas tradition my family has is to drive around and "grade" other people's outdoor displays. When in the car with my family you're likely to hear, "Those reindeer look a little off center.." and "Those blue lights are a tad depressing.." as we cruise by the lit up houses scattered throughout our town. Over the years we have come up with a complex set of criteria that determine whether a house can earn an "A." Here are some of the rules:
1. Multiple blow up decorations are an automatic F.
2. Mixing white lights with colored lights is an automatic F.
3. Projected LED lights that replace real string lights cannot receive higher than a C.
4. Lights that hang off the ends of the roof drop you down a letter grade.
5. Candles in the windows are classes and raise your grade a letter.
The list goes on an on. You're probably wondering, "When do they have time for this?" My family and I usually grade Christmas lights whenever we're driving around running errands or on our way to friends. It started several years ago and got progressively more intense as the years went on.
To be honest, there's no right or wrong way to decorate your house for Christmas. My family and I like to joke around and have some fun during the holiday season since we are always running around and busy. The time we spend in the car is one of the only times we're able to just sit and talk so we figured we'd make a game out of one of our favorite things to talk about during the holiday season. As the years come and go, our "Christmas Light Grading" gets more intense and quite frankly, more hilarious. Even though tradition is nothing close to traditional, I'm glad my family has a sense of humor and we get to share a few good laughs during our holiday adventures on the road.
