Our city does not decorate for Christmas anymore

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7_Sorrows

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I recently moved back to a city in the desert
Southwest where I had lived for 30 years.
My favorite time of the year was Christmas
and how festive the city looked. The main
avenue is several miles long and the city
would decorate the street lights on both sides of the street for many miles. Businesses and big office buildings would
be decorated with lights.
Last Sunday, our priest gave a homily on the song “It’s beginning to look a lot like
Christmas”. So I decided to drive up the main avenue of our city the night of that homily and all I could think of is it is not beginning to look
anything like Christmas. It was dark. It was not festive. There was no special feeling in the air. If I hadn’t seen the Advent candles at church that morning or
attended the Vesper’s service that evening that included the 9 lessons with carols, there was nothing to indicate to anyone who drove up the main avenue or anywhere in the city the significance of this special time of year as we “wait” for the “arrival” of the birth of Jesus.
A friend told me that 3-4 years ago the city
banned Christmas decorations. This makes me so sad. I don’t mind if the Jewish people want to decorate for Hannakah. I don’t mind if the Muslims or
Buddhists would want to decorate for any of their holidays.
What will be next - no Christmas movies on
television or at the theatre?
Has this happened in the cities where any of you live?
I am offended.
 
7_Sorrows said:
A friend told me that 3-4 years ago the city
banned Christmas decorations. This makes me so sad. I don’t mind if the Jewish people want to decorate for Hannakah. I don’t mind if the Muslims or
Buddhists would want to decorate for any of their holidays.
Click to expand...
Did the city ban them? Or just stop providing them? The former would be very disturbing indeed.
 
It was probably a cost-saving gesture framed up as political correctness.
Don’t worry about it, just put up extra decorations yourself.
One day they will decorate again
 
No, it was not due to cost. We are a city that welcomes thousands of winter visitors and we have a nationally televised parade here around New Year’s on this same main
street.
Some of the other cities adjoining ours still
decorate.
It was due to political correctness.
 
7_Sorrows said:
A friend told me that 3-4 years ago the city
banned Christmas decorations.
Click to expand...
Did they ban people from putting them up, or does the city itself just not put them up?
7_Sorrows said:
Has this happened in the cities where any of you live?
Click to expand...
I just moved, but my previous town put a massive tree up at the main entrance to downtown. Part of it was for kids to put decorations up. Combined with the lights that were up year round but which were on more frequently in winter (obviously), it gave the whole town a real Christmas vibe. I loved walking around downtown at the time.
 
When I first moved into my neighborhood (1998, it’s a cul de sac), there was exactly one other person who decorated on the street. Today, maybe a bit over half the houses decorate. It’s much brighter at Christmas time than it used to be. The city? Don’t know. Don’t particularly care.

We have a tradition of going around looking at Christmas lights. I note several with Manger sets, angels, shepherds.Lots of Santa Claus, a few theme (snoopy, hello kitty, the grinch, minions, you-name-it). Christmas lights, icicles, candy canes, stars, trees, reindeer, projectors. They’re all out there.

Is the glass half full or half empty? To me, the glass can never be big enough, but that’s just me.
 
Yeah, DIY is where it’s at. You can’t really rely on municipal government to do anything beyond just keeping the trash picked up, the police and fire operating and the water on. Sometimes they can’t even manage that.

People can say it’s not the money all they want, but I bet if some huge company stepped in and sponsored “Holiday decorations” that town would suddenly forget “political correctness”. Everything is always about money. Everything.
 
I don’t even notice that many homes lit up for Christmas as before. Living in the desert Southwest it is hard enough for it
to feel like Christmas because we don’t have the cold and snow that so many identify Christmas with so the Christmas decorations really help. Hannukah is the
festival of Light and I think Christmas is too.
This afternoon I went to an outdoor mall in a neighboring suburb and they had a huge tree decorated along with other decorations so I am glad some cities have
not lost their Christmas spirit.
 
That is so sad and worrying : /
A couple of years ago I said to my mum that I’m really taking in all the lights, the star on the town hall,people’s front yard display…there might not be many signs of the real meaning of Christmas as in its all blow up Santas ,reindeer ,Christmas trees and pretty lights (apart from the Churches) but it IS recognising Christmas, and there might come a time we can’t have public display …who knows.
 
I know what you mean. The night I drove through downtown I just had a sick feeling
in my stomach because there was absolutely nothing to indicate it was the
Christmas season.
 
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Where I live they definitely still decorate for Christmas! Other denominations were complaining but the city told them that public funds were NOT used to decorate for Christmas but rather a religious entity donated the Christmas decorations to the city and that if another denomination wished to decorate the city during their high holy days they just needed to donate the items to the city as the other denomination did! So now no more complaints and the city puts up decorations for: Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa! What I love most of all is seeing the Nativity scene and the city does NOT put it all out at once but piece by piece so you don’t see the child Jesus till very late of December 24th.
 
Yeah, I found it interesting that one town where I work has a Nativity scene right on the county courthouse lawn. I’m sure they had some lawyers set that up in such a way that they won’t get a lawsuit. It being the county courthouse, it and the whole neighborhood are crawling with lawyers.
I thought it was a gutsy thing to do.
 
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Several years ago the annual Christmas tree that was put in the lobby of one of the courthouses downtown was ruled not to be
allowed to be put up anymore. It was huge.
That was the first Christmas decoration to go. Now there are no trees nor are there manger scenes. Very sad.
 
I was downtown at Thanksgiving, and I noticed City Hall already had a white Christmas tree set up in front. I don’t really expect a huge city like Los Angeles to put up decorations everywhere. Local chambers of commerce do still decorate the streets along shopping districts, by lighting up trees and putting up holiday banners, in cooperation with the city.

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I was at one of the smaller beach cities yesterday, and they had Christmas banners hung across the main boulevard and decorations at every light pole. The best thing, though, is that they put red covers over all the parking meters, giving us free parking as a Christmas present 👍
 
Nice. And that is California. What has happened here in Arizona???
 
We went to Kirkland’s the other day. Local store is in National City, just south of San Diego. Coming back, I noticed all bridges south of highway I-8 were decorated. That would be San Diego. Bridges north of I-8 were unlit. Also San Diego. I guess it’s more related to local areas.

We went on our yearly Christmas Light viewing last night. Generally more decorated this year. A couple blocks from here, one house was out of The Grizwolds… millions of lights, front and back of house. In same area, there were 6 homes with Manger sets out, and one house with “God With Us” spelled out in lights.

Nice!
 
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