Pining for the Christians

How much has changed in my life. I grew up a surly, Christmas-disliking Jew, grousing about the crassness of the holiday season. I now have two polar bears and a snowman in my yard, highlighted by white lights around the edge of the yard. It's not the yard decorations that signal the change per se. It's the fact that I am distressed that no neighbors have any. In our Houston house, our cul-de-sac won awards for the matching red luminarias, signs and theme of "Christmas Around the World." Tour buses (really) came through to see our neighborhood. There were reports that you could see it from space (low orbit).

We now live in a very nice, multi-cultural Austin neighborhood with many high-tech families. High tech families from Korea, India, Pakistan and Vietnam. I truly love the diversity in my neighborhood. But their yards are bare. There is one pitiful lighted reindeer three houses down and around the corner.

I am not looking for Manger scenes, or animatronic Santas. And yard decorations could reflect the Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh backgrounds of the neighborhood. Heck, I'll even put up a giant blow-up Menorah. Just make an effort, people.