Christmas in suburbia

As some of you know, though I don't consider myself a true Suburbanite, I do in fact fit almost ALL the criteria for being one.  I live in a ranch-style tract home in a suburb in Southern California.  I drive a SUV.  I make weekly stops to Target, and at a location where there are ALWAYS open parking spots.  I have to make it a point to walk, otherwise I probably never would, save for the 100 yards from the car to the store.  I have a backyard - albeit a small one - so my daughter can play outside with minimal supervision.  I rarely see tall buildings, or on the other hand open spaces, unless of course you count parking lots.  I have to travel over 30 miles to go to a proper museum, see a concert, or get to an International Airport, but all of that is within striking distance.  I live in the sanitized, suburbia bubble, and for the sake of my family, it makes sense to do it.

But, in all honesty - and I don't say this to be dramatic - the suburbs chafe my soul.  I'm feeling this way due to the Election and Christmas.  With the election I was bombarded with "Yes on Prop 8" literature, calls, and even physical approaches.  Though I am Christian, for reasons better reserved for an entirely different blog post, I had always planned to vote No on this proposition and ultimately did.  Somehow being a suburbanite and voting "No on 8" were anomalous.  At the start of election season, I really had nothing against my many neighbors - the "Yes on 8" proponents- with their sea of yellow signs with the stick families, but in the last days I would shake my fist at the heavens when I'd have to pick off yet another doorhanger or brochure.

As for Christmas, let me preface by saying I love the holiday.  I enjoy all the traditions and gatherings, and at it's core, it really is about love, peace, charity, and letting your loved ones know you really do care.  I really dig that.  I think love, peace, and charity are awesome.  However, in suburbia, there is this new generation of outdoor decorating where your house either looks like this:

Xmas lights gone wild

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or you have one of these:

Inflatible...no, not that kind

On the blow-ups you apparently have to re-inflate daily as I see them deflated every morning and miraculously erect by nightfall. 

Now, I get it that kids like these grandiose decorations.  My daughter oohhs and aahs everytime we pass the massively lit up house in our complex that rivals the photo above.  But, call me a liberal treehugger (you wouldn't be the first fyi) but it's a tremendous waste of resources.  I'm not saying, ban the lights.  I'm not even saying ban the large-scale lights at some event or theme park or town square.  I'm just saying this is excessive...and more importantly not at all what this season is meant for.

My husband turned to me a couple nights ago and admitted that he still has yet to buy me a Christmas gift and is sweating a bit about it since he doesn't really know what to get, and well, in this economy it's not exactly the time for any grand gestures.  I told him we would hit up an After-Christmas sale or two, and to save the sweat.  After all, what I am looking forward to is the fact that he'll be off from work between Christmas and New Year's.  We'll build fires in the fireplace, watch movies, take our daughter up the mountain so she can play in the snow, and be together.  That is what the Mastercard commercials would call Priceless, and so do I.  Time with my loved ones is what this season is about, not a 10 ft. blown-up Rudolph that may be novel, but deflates by morning.