Half Lit

There are a few houses in the neighborhood that really take decorating for Christmas seriously. I was hoping to snap some pictures of the most-lit up houses, but most of them were dark.

This house has new decorations:



This house, believe it or not, has more than half their lights off tonight:



There's a street in Portland called Peacock Lane on which every house decorates for Christmas (see photos). People walk up and down the sidewalks or drive up and down the street, headlights off, to look at the lights. Enterprising kids sell hot chocolate and treats, and the year I went the Girl Scouts were doing a toy drive. One December while I was working at Harry's Mother I came up with the idea to take the clients to Peacock Lane. It would get us out of the house, and would be something fun to do, if a little silly.


The clients, my colleague, and I got into the van and we drove up and down the street. Cries of "Look at this!" "Over here!" and "Whoa!" mingled with questions like "Does [Portland Gas & Electric] help with their power bill?" and "That house isn't decorated very much - d'you think they're Jewish?" and "If they were Jewish, why would they buy a house on this street?" It was fun, and the teenagers in our care really enjoyed it.