Dear Urban Diplomat: what should I do with neighbours who still have their tacky Christmas decorations up?
Christmas 2013 is long gone, and yet the house on my corner remains festooned with yuletide paraphernalia: a giant Santa, an inflatable candy-cane archway and reindeer—plus, inexplicably, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and Snoopy figurines. The scene looks like some hillbilly carnival and is no small source of agitation for my wife and me. I want to tell these purveyors of bad taste to pack it up. How should I do it, and is there some bylaw with which I can arm myself?
—Ixnay on the Xmas Stuff Already, Beach Triangle
Trailer trash infractions like overgrown weeds, piles of garbage, and cars up on blocks are prohibited. Past-due holiday displays are not. So you’ll have to do without the long arm of a bylaw to bolster your case. But here’s what I think: your neighbour’s lawn ornamentation, no matter how tacky, tardy or unseasonal, is none of your business. For one thing, you don’t know the whole story. Maybe someone’s too sick to do the disassembling. For another, mandating good taste is bad manners. How would you react if a cabal of neighbours knocked on your door to whinge about your choice of paint colour or shrubbery selection? All you can do is grin and bear it—and pray they don’t add a giant illuminated crucifix come Easter.
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![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/urban-diplomat-ixnay-on-the-xmas-stuff-already/&title=Dear Urban Diplomat: what should I do with neighbours who still have their tacky Christmas decorations up?&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/urban-diplomat-xmas-in-the-summer-feat.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_265111" align="alignleft" width="292"] (Image: Brian Costelloe)[/caption]Dear Urban Diplomat,
Christmas 2013 is long gone, and yet the house on my corner remains festooned with yuletide paraphernalia: a giant Santa, an inflatable candy-cane archway and reindeer—plus, inexplicably, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and Snoopy figurines. The scene looks like some hillbilly carnival and is no small source of agitation for my wife and me. I want to tell these purveyors of bad taste to pack it up. How should I do it, and is there some bylaw with which I can arm myself?
—Ixnay on the Xmas Stuff Already, Beach Triangle
Trailer trash infractions like overgrown weeds, piles of garbage, and cars up on blocks are prohibited. Past-due holiday displays are not. So you’ll have to do without the long arm of a bylaw to bolster your case. But here’s what I think: your neighbour’s lawn ornamentation, no matter how tacky, tardy or unseasonal, is none of your business. For one thing, you don’t know the whole story. Maybe someone’s too sick to do the disassembling. For another, mandating good taste is bad manners. How would you react if a cabal of neighbours knocked on your door to whinge about your choice of paint colour or shrubbery selection? All you can do is grin and bear it—and pray they don’t add a giant illuminated crucifix come Easter.
Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com){kind=link}
This Christmas decorations for MONTHS after fact theme seems to be an annoying trend. I can sort of understand not wanting to remove decorations when there is a couple feet of snow on the ground or the temperature is -30°C. However, it is pretty darn easy to unplug the Christmas lights or to lift a wreath off your front door (one that you’re walking in and out of many times every day!). From what I’ve been seeing in my neighbourhood (STILL), there are dozens of incredibly lazy people out there.
I still have my icicle lights up. Why not? It’s dark out, and they add some cheer (they’re white, so not garish colours). It’s still cold enough for icicles, so it’s still cold enough for what I refer to as my “winter lights.” It’s not lazyness: I enjoy them.
Allow me to answer your question…. the proper response to “What am I to do with neighbors who still have their tacky Christmas decoration up?”. I say you need to concern yourself with your own home as you do not live in your neighbors home. To suggest that your life is somehow impeded by a neighbor having christmas decorations up does not say much for your own lifestyle. It is a simple matter of minding your own business and no, your neighbors home is not your business.
Count your blessings, I have a neighbour who kept his halloween decorations with all the lights 365/24/7 and those blinking lights are dangerous glare for vechiles at night…drop by at Dunforest Avenue in Willowdale.
I know the one you are talking about! I pass it by sometimes when going for walks. I think that house always has over-the-top decorations every year. I agree with the advice: mind your own business! My kids always found this house entertaining when passing by.
Plus, it has been a crazy long, cold winter! Most of neighbours took longer to take down the decoration due to the coldness. I still can’t get my reindeer completely out of my front yard because the nails for the legs are frozen in the soil, and it’s April already!