In the Holiday Mood

After spending most of yesterday feeling depressed, I decided to cheer myself up with a long walk this evening. I really needed to go to the bank anyway. Work was pretty much the same as yesterday - steady, with no real problems other than that lack of help and a few annoying customers. One older woman wanted one thing in each bag...and told us so 50,000 times. Hello, we CAN hear you!

I went right home after work. I grabbed my purse and headed out again on foot. I really needed to go to the bank and deposit my Christmas money, and since I was out and about and it was too early for dinner, I decided to walk around and look at outdoor Christmas lights. I went down the White Horse Pike, stopping briefly at WaWa for hot chocolate, then walked around in the neighborhoods behind West Clinton Avenue and on either side of Kendall Boulevard.

I really enjoyed my walk. The sky was clear as a bell. Stars showed like bright little jewels over the glistening strands of lights on many houses. The displays ranged from small candles in each window to five hundred strands of lights covering the entire house, with tons of plastic and/or helium-filled figures in the yard. The triangular entrance to one house was outlined in lights to look like a Christmas tree, complete with a star on top. Another house was so filled with weird figures and lights, I couldn't see the yard...including one snowman sitting on top of a digital sign saying "Ho ho ho!" A house down the street went avant-guard with three white trees covered with big flashing multi-colored bulbs.

I really appreciate the festive atmosphere in Oaklyn, for Halloween and Christmas. Christmas in Wildwood never looked this good. The few people left who live in Wildwood proper year-round were either as poor as me or Hispanics whose Christmas traditions didn't involve outdoor displays. Some folks who stayed in condos would hang lights on their windows and balconies, but most of those would disappear as soon as Wildwood's Christmas Parade ended. It's nice to live in a place where it really feels like Christmas...and not in July, either.