The last of Christmas 12-26-22

The day after Christmas and some decorations are already down, but others will stay up well into January and even a few lights stay up all year, even if they don't light them up until next Christmas.   I have no lights.  In fact, my only showing for Christmas is a wreath on the door and a potted poinsettia on the porch.  I have a variegated poinsettia in the kitchen because a friend gave it to me.  It is quite lovely and I remembered to water both pots today.  But in the neighborhood we still have...

Christmas hippopotamuses and a Christmas bull in the background, sharing space with a realistic snowman.  

I've never seen a Christmas hippo.  No idea if this is a thing in some other country.  The people have only lived here a few months and they are not very friendly.  The steps are a new installation, finished just in time for the hippos.  

This family gets more elaborate with each holiday.  The lollipops and other decorations are homemade using plastic plates, bowls, cups, swim noodles, cardboard, plywood and cellophane wrap.  They are very clever. 

I think these signs inviting Santa are also homemade. 

Santa had a bit of an accident and is sprawled among scattered packages. 

Poor guy, maybe he tippled a bit too much. 

 Here is KoKo with the giant skeleton in his Christmas garb. 

 The little skeleton by his side was bareheaded, so when I was at the 99cent store I bought him a Santa hat.  It needed a safety pin to make it fit, but keeps his bald head warm.  

We are expecting rain (HURRAH) so maybe some things will be taken down tomorrow.  Although inches are predicted we may only get a drizzle.  With our 20+ years of draught we don't get too excited now.  Any drop will be welcome.

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Halloween 10-31-21

Lots of pictures tonight.  First of some decorations in the neighborhood.  Not so many this year, but they all went up early in the month.  

I posted an image of this guy on Oct 4th when he first appeared.  He is 12 - 15 feet tall.  I have added KoKo to this picture to provide a comparison.

Since that first picture this unfortunate child was added.  A little too creepy for me, but not as bad as a whole yard full of huge skeletons all the way down to cat and dog skeletons smaller than KoKo.  Br-r-r-r-r!

And here is KoKo with the skeleton's foot - about the same size!

Three houses north of us there is this skeleton family roasting marshmallows.  Again we have a child skeleton on someone's knee.  

At night there are blue lights and blazing coals (lights). 

This guy looks too happy to be a ghost.  The black bump at the bottom is a giant inflated spider.  Fortunately not lit so he isn't terribly scary. 

I like this row of "The Scream" ghosts made of corrugated fencing. 

Here are some of the skeleton animals.

Who appear in the front yard of this over-the-top display.

We don't usually do Halloween.  Just leave all the lights off until the Tricker-Treaters have finished their rounds.  However, this year some neighbors arranged a parade and asked us to set up a table on our driveway and greet the kids with treats.  I hauled out a chair and a bowl of quarters. KoKo wore his bunny ears, some of the time.  Great crowd of kids and parents, but they preferred the other side of the street and I only gave out 24 quarters.  NO leftover candy.  I always preferred coins over candy when I was a kid.  Of course, back then it was nickels or dimes.

They all gathered at the southern end of the street - SO many!

Neighbor Don led the parade in his Jeep.  Don't understand why, but he backed up all the way - at least to the corner five houses away.

Lots of costumes, even a dinosaur.  And see that tiny guy in blue at the far left - he was determined to walk/run by himself, but his dad was running close behind. 

This blue gal is one of those wind blown creatures used to attract attention at new businesses - they wave their arms and bounce on their skinny legs.  In the foreground is Muttley the dog who is always walked without a lease.  I am afraid someday a coyote will jump out and nab him for breakfast.  

The crowd in the cul de sac across the street, they were giving out candy by the handsful.  In the background one neighbor has put up a bounce house, but I didn't see anyone using it.  In costume?  Nooooo.  

Here is KoKo in his bunny ears.  He wouldn't wear them for very long, nor would he sit still for this picture. 

I had better luck with his back view. 

I think we will go back to no lights next year.  This was very tiring. 

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