A Little Friendly Competition

Over the past few weeks, I took a break to visit family in Virginia, relax, and celebrate Christmas and the new year. It’s definitely good to be back, though, and I’m excited to see what 2012 has in store.

As a little post-Christmas/end-of-the-holiday-season gift to you, I’ve compiled a lovely montage of lights and décor from over the past month. These pieces of eye candy (which you can view in this post's photo section) dwell exclusively in Southeast Michigan and Southwest Virginia. Now, you might not think that decorations could differ so much from region to region, but in the case of these homes, I’ve definitely found some differences.

Michigan

As decorations started popping up around the beginning of December, I noticed a common thread among many decorated houses: Michiganders like their lights, and they do a good job at putting them up. Maybe holiday decorating is an innate talent for people in cold weather-areas, or maybe it’s the fact that professional lighting companies are popular around here (yes, I’ve seen the trucks—and I know that not all of those triple-decker houses get by without at least a little help); regardless, neighborhoods around here are filled with strategically-strung colors. No sloppy jumbles of lights thrown halfway up a tree for these folks.

And then, 500 miles away, you have Southwest Virginia.

Virginia

Welcome to the land of lawn ornaments. People in this region love their inflatable snowmen and plastic Santas, and bigger is always better. Well, maybe not always better, but there’s no denying that these yards sure are fun to look at.

So, take a look at the photos, and let me know which you prefer: colorfully illuminated yet contained, or the build-it-bigger approach? I’d love to hear what you think!