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If anyone reads this who still has their christmas lights on the front of their house, spend the 20 minutes it takes to take them down. It is an eyesore in the community.

I found it especially irritating over the past few weekends when I have seen people doing their spring gardening out front of their house, trying to give their house curb appeal, and they have the icicle lights hanging down.

Mike

LOL. It's funny that someone finally said something, because I'm sure so many of us think that everyday we drive by.

I don't get it really. My hubby took ours down in January when we were having that really mild weather (and we had TONS - we could've been the Griswolds!).

However, good luck trying to get people to do it now, it's half way through the year, and it's 6 months til Christmas now

Laurie

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my thoughts exactly. last year there was one house that kept it up all year round, but they'ved moved away. thank god.

Hallelujia!!!! I agree, for whatever reasons, it's just one of those things that drive me bonkers.....I think an entire street event could be co-ordinated for Waldie! lol

Jessica

LOL, I don't have any lights, myself. But I do have to chuckle at the way there are always people who care about it so much. Ah Christmas lights. They're pretty in December. Ugly in July. Funny because they're not really taking up more than an inch of private realestate on someone ELSE'S property at the edge of their house but my goodness is it a "community issue". It doesn't smell, it isn't a health hazard, it doesn't affect anyone else' property or lifestyle. There are times when I think "the community" can be a bit of a collective busy body in the stereotypical sense. Life is too full of other things we could all be doing rather than fussing over our neighbour's sense of aesthetic decor.

(Now you may all burn me at the stake with your pitchforks raised up high for my glaringly laissez-faire and dissenting opinion)

I just took ours down May 20th (long weekend)

Some houses have the white christmas lights. I think they are not that noticeable. I know some houses leave the white ones on all year long and never take them down. I think that's ok if they want to do that. I wouldn't want to think they are obligated to take them down.

Ours though were the multi-colored ones (green, red & blue) so look more ridiculous up there during the summer I think.

Remember, don't do today, what you can put off until tomorrow. Although when I told my wife that philosophy, she did call me a lazy sh*t (in a playful way, or at least I like to think so).

Home esthetics are everyone's responsibility as part of the community, just like keeping your lawn mowed (Don't even get me started on that), in fact there is a city by-law making sure that home owners do not let their grass grow too long.

The funny thing is, the longer you leave them on your house, the more chance there is for damaged bulbs, and the 20 minutes that would have been spent taking them down would be spent troubleshooting broken bulbs in the cold of December.

Home aesthetic is very personal, not everyone would agree on what "good" aesthetic is. That's the beauty of taste - as the latin says, it is indisputable. A health hazard is one thing, someone's personal decoration taste is another. Communities are not meant to be homogeneous zones where legions of identical women push identical strollers into identical SUVs to drive to identical houses. And nosy neighbours need to remember that when it comes to silly inconsequential trivialities like christmas decorations in july. There's a big difference between a christmas light in July and a grow-op or a crack house or a yard that's collecting toxic garbage. Pretending we actually *care* how long it takes our "poor" neighbour to fix his bulbs in winter is pretty silly. We don't care. We'll happily wave at him out of our identical SUVs as we back out of our identical driveways no matter how long he's been out there "fixing up" his (or her) glaringly hideous choice of lawn ornament. :p There are things worthy of worrying over, and then there's ... silliness.

Note - > I'm not attempting to take a mean shot at anyone personally here, but I think perspective is in order sometimes before people begin to organize little lynch mob sessions over aesthetic taste, in the name of the all mighty "community". My garden gnome may be hideous, but then again, someone else' choice of garden perennial might thoroughly disgust me also.

While I agree that people who leave their xmas lights (or should I say holiday lights?) up till the summer or past are most lilkely lazy and it looks really tacky, I also agree that it's none of our business and we should all have better things to do in our lives other than worry about someone else's property esthetics. But hey, that's just me.

I knew a couple people who just decided that rather than take them down/put them up/take them down/put them up each year they would just leave them up. Personally I find it such a PITA I don't even bother putting up lights (plus it used to be a terrible waste of electricity, now with those new organic leds that doesn't seem as much of an issue).

Oh, actually I knew three sets of people, but the third was an extremely old couple who just couldn't manage it themselves. Their son used to come put it up for them and then take it down, and he was killed in a car accident. I know at one point I offered if they wanted them down, but he said "No, Mark will take them down". I couldn't tell if he had gone a bit senile and had forgotten what happened or if it was an emotional thing, but either way, the lights stayed up for another year and a half until they went to a home, but they never turned them on again. I had forgotten about that until now... funny how we forget the sad things... no wonder we always think things were better back in the day.

Anyway, I got totally off topic, the point being, with some people it's a personal choice to leave them up, and if there isn't a by-law, there isn't much you can do about it.

I fully agree people have every right to do what they want on their own house and property, which does not break local laws.

I also have a right to express my dis-pleasure of things in my community. Yes it may be silly to have things like this bother me.

Bottom Line, people can write what they want about my opinions and such, I don't really care, I am not running for office. I just want to bring a little more embarassment to people who are too lazy to take them down, because yes it bothers me.

For the person who wrote that it does not harm the environment, that is all up to the level in which you evaluate it:

Two weeks ago, I finally removed the lights from the tree in the Beaty North park, for a variety of reasons including the fact that there is an open receptacle which is not properly installed sitting in the ground, Mattamy, who put the lights up, completely wrapped the tree branches, and you can see that the tree suffers.

Also, the effect on the environment cannot be just limited to the electricity which the lights use, all of the lights are made of plastic, as well as electrical wiring and sheath. The plastic and sheath require fossil fuels for manufacturing, which lends itself to greenhouse gas emissions, as well as reduction of natural resources. Thus if you have to buy new lights each year, the more waste it causes.

Anyway, let the barrage come again.

I have to say I agree with Sara&Mike. While I would never go up to someone who has lights on in June and ask them to take it down I find myself making a judgement about their internal living space. In my eyes (let me stress, my eyes) if they are too lazy to take down Christmas lights then what does the rest of their house look like. For most of us our house is our pride and joy and walking around the neighbourhood last week I noticed that this one house FINALLY took down their Christmas wreath hanging on their front door.....seriously, how much effort would that have taken in January. To me how you take care of the outside of your house is GENERALLY a representation of how you take care of the inside of your house. I for one would not want anyone to walk by my house and think to themselves wow, they look lazy...haven't cut the grass, no landscaping, christmas lights up, fliers floating around the front yard (we all know those houses).

To each their own, but you have to admit that it looks awful to see Christmas lights in the middle of the summer (espeically if half of the string has fallen away from the eavestrough).

BTW Steve, that is a really sad story about the old couple. Sometimes there are reasons why people don't take them down, and for that, none of us would judge, but there are way too many houses in the neighbourhood with lights up for that to be true.

sgor... I agree, I doubt anyone in a new house would be in that condition... I actually only replied thinking about a couple houses on my old street in Mississauga that kept them up year round because they chose to, and it reminded me of the old couple from my early Milton years. I suppose I didn't really need to post it, but after not thinking of them for... 15 years? 20? The memories just flooded back so it was cathartic to post it. I didn't mean to derail the thread

Or maybe they simply have 'griswold'itious. Let's just hope they take down their tree!

I don't think I would ever go up to someone and make a comment about...I find it funny how this thread went from this morning!

for me personally....it doesn't bother me to a point where I'm annoyed, it's more one of those wierd quirks I have where when I see it, I cringe a little, but I go about my day, for sure! Kind of like the whole socks with sandals thing...but we'll save that for another day! hahahaha

put em up, take em down...whatever! I do know that some people do freak out when they are left up though.

Jessica