[caption id="attachment_1661" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Sharpstein Manor decorated in lights"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1686.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1661" title="Christmas lights " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1686.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></a>[/caption]

Earlier in December, I wrote a post about <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/christmas-lights/">Christmas lights in Sofia</a>.  I was struck by the white lights on the national bank building, which were hung very neatly, and the blue lights in parliament, that looked like a 14 year-old hung them.  One of the comments I received asked me this:
<blockquote>Can you share some pictures with US Christmas decorations?

Happy holidays!</blockquote>
And truth be told, I don't get lots of requests for blog posts and I love Christmas lights so I am happy to oblige.  (There were a few pictures in a post two days ago but today there are many, many more.)<!--more-->

[caption id="attachment_1697" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="&quot;Standard&quot; Christmas Lights"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1653.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1697" title="Neighborhood house" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1653.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></a>[/caption]

As soon as I read the comment, I knew that there was at least one house that would make it onto the blog. It's a house from my childhood, that is broken up into apartments and they decorate the entire building to the nines every year.  Rumor has it that in order to sign a lease, you have to agree to participate in decorating at Christmas time.  I have no idea if this is true but it does seem a little crazy.  This said they do a great job.

[caption id="attachment_1699" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Reindeer on the Lawn"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1665.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1699" title="Reindeer Christmas" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1665.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></a>[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1700" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="My Favorite House!"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1682.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1700" title="My favorite house! " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1682.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></a>[/caption]

I haven't seen the house in a few years but it was great.  It made me really happy I was on the hunt for houses with lights.

[caption id="attachment_1703" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Look at these lights!"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1698.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1703" title="Look at these lights!" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1698.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></a>[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1705" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Me and Mickey"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1693.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1705" title="Me and Mickey" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1693.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></a>[/caption]

At my house, my parents have never been the serious-over the top decorators.  When I was younger and we lived in a different house my parents would string lights along the gutter and the peak of the house--this requires time and a ladder.  Now my parents have scaled back a little bit and we've got lights around some of our first floor windows--no ladder required.

[caption id="attachment_1706" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="My House at Christmas"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1536.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1706" title="My House" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1536.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></a>[/caption]

Luckily, there are other houses that are over the top in their decorating.  I am not really sure where this obsession came from.  I assume that it's a post World War II thing--lots of young couples, new houses and a desire to show off.  Today, there are decorating competitions and entire neighborhoods get organized to decorate (and to show-off).

[caption id="attachment_1708" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="American Flag and Christmas Lights"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1628.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1708" title="American Flag and Christmas lights" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1628.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></a>[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1709" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="At the Manger (There&#39;s baby Jesus, too. I took the picture on Dec 26th!)"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1618.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1709" title="At the Manger " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1618.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></a>[/caption]

The thing that stands out to me is the mix of lights, Santas, reindeer, religious scenes and even signs that grace people's front yards.  It's not something that I've seen anywhere else.  This is, I think, a piece of Americana--the mix of high and low, the over-abundance of lights, the religious and the non-religious, the serious and the playful.

All in all, I think the whole thing is great.  It's American through and through.