Grandiose Spending

[rk911]

We visited The Johannessen family's house in Winter Park last Christmas. Wow.
250,000 lights. Any guess what their electric bill must be?

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/os-winter-park-christmas-lights-20161220-story.html

very glad we don't live near people who do that.

 

[Old Microbiologist]

Tell him you are Jewish. It always worked for me.

Here in Hungary, thankfully, they haven't fallen into the nutty American practices like Halloween or Christmas. They also don't have Mother's or Father's Day but they do celebrate International Woman's Day, ironically created in the US but never observed there. They only day I see which is something unusual is the All Souls Day where everyone goes to the cemeteries and cleans their family graves up, making things nice and putting white potted Chrysanthemums and nice long burning candles on the graves. It is quite a sight to see the beauty of this and the respect for their departed families. They have Christmas ornaments but at the town/city city level. Our very modest property tax (less than $200 a year) all goes for things like that plus flowers lining the streets all year long, lights and ornaments for thinks like Christmas and New Years and a spectacular fireworks display on Saint Istvan's Day and New Year's Eve.

 

[dirtbiker]

Tell him you are Jewish. It always worked for me.

Here in Hungary, thankfully, they haven't fallen into the nutty American practices like Halloween or Christmas. They also don't have Mother's or Father's Day but they do celebrate International Woman's Day, ironically created in the US but never observed there. They only day I see which is something unusual is the All Souls Day where everyone goes to the cemeteries and cleans their family graves up, making things nice and putting white potted Chrysanthemums and nice long burning candles on the graves. It is quite a sight to see the beauty of this and the respect for their departed families. They have Christmas ornaments but at the town/city city level. Our very modest property tax (less than $200 a year) all goes for things like that plus flowers lining the streets all year long, lights and ornaments for thinks like Christmas and New Years and a spectacular fireworks display on Saint Istvan's Day and New Year's Eve.

What you call "nutty" many of us very much enjoy. I love putting up Christmas lights every year. My wife will decorate our house for most every major holiday, including a few outdoor decorations. And it's fun to see what the neighbors put up as well. So far it hasn't gotten competitive, and I hope it doesn't, but our neighborhood for the most part enjoys these traditions.

 

[meleana]

I don't do any decorating anymore, We go away and stay in a quaint New England Inn and eat out for the holidays.

 

[NW-Bound]

Some European towns are into Christmas decoration too, like Strasbourg and Colmar. No doubt tourism has something to do with that, but that has been their tradition.

 

[explanade]

Christmas markets seem to be more northern European tradition.

Probably something to cheer up people in the brutal cold weather.

 

[Old Microbiologist]

dirtbiker: I understand what you are saying but I sympathise with the OP as it sounded like he was "expected" to do something. There is a fairly large population that aren't Christians and don't particularly like Christmas at all. Most are silent about it. In my own case I am atheist but also of "Jewish" heredity. I always volunteered to take duty for others on Christmas day so they could spend time with their families throughout my career. That was either while in the military for the 30 years I was in uniform taking CQ or Officer of the Day, or at my ski area where I was a volunteer ski patroller so I took patrol duty on Christmas. That was my own way to help others.

In Europe, as NW-bound shows there is more the tradition of centralized displays, obviously for commercial purposes, but it is also fun, even for atheists like myself. But, it also doesn't intrude into my life at all as some kind of neighborhood watch style imposition might. My very atheist wife loves to have a holiday tree, although I do not. It was not something from my childhood so not something I particularly enjoy and seems like more of a big hassle to me. I indulge her with mild protest when she gets in the mood for this.

So, like in all things one man's meat is another man's poison. I respect that and have usually NOT been one of those pain in the ass atheists (although I always refused to say "under God" in any oaths which got me in a lot of trouble as a child in school and later in the military). In the US it seems to me that a lot of these spectacles have arisen purely from commercial roots which is something entirely different. I am thinking Halloween and Mother's Day in particular. The former definitely intrudes into a person's life as it is impossible to not participate without negative consequences. Thankfully, that doesn't exist here and it is more of a solemn occasion which the way they practice it here is respectful and also beautiful.

 

[dirtbiker]

dirtbiker: I understand what you are saying but I sympathise with the OP as it sounded like he was "expected" to do something. There is a fairly large population that aren't Christians and don't particularly like Christmas at all. Most are silent about it. In my own case I am atheist but also of "Jewish" heredity. I always volunteered to take duty for others on Christmas day so they could spend time with their families throughout my career. That was either while in the military for the 30 years I was in uniform taking CQ or Officer of the Day, or at my ski area where I was a volunteer ski patroller so I took patrol duty on Christmas. That was my own way to help others.

In Europe, as NW-bound shows there is more the tradition of centralized displays, obviously for commercial purposes, but it is also fun, even for atheists like myself. But, it also doesn't intrude into my life at all as some kind of neighborhood watch style imposition might. My very atheist wife loves to have a holiday tree, although I do not. It was not something from my childhood so not something I particularly enjoy and seems like more of a big hassle to me. I indulge her with mild protest when she gets in the mood for this.

So, like in all things one man's meat is another man's poison. I respect that and have usually NOT been one of those pain in the ass atheists (although I always refused to say "under God" in any oaths which got me in a lot of trouble as a child in school and later in the military). In the US it seems to me that a lot of these spectacles have arisen purely from commercial roots which is something entirely different. I am thinking Halloween and Mother's Day in particular. The former definitely intrudes into a person's life as it is impossible to not participate without negative consequences. Thankfully, that doesn't exist here and it is more of a solemn occasion which the way they practice it here is respectful and also beautiful.

I agree that nobody should be expected to decorate. That's asinine. Thanks for volunteering to work holidays that you don't celebrate. While I was in residency, we had a very diverse group that included Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and Seiks, and probably atheists/agnostics. We all worked with each other to make sure that we had off on the important holidays of our religion/traditions. It worked out quite well. I'm not saying I never worked a holiday, because I did, but we made out a lot better than a group of all American Christians, because we weren't all fighting for the same days off.

And I'm also not very religious. I grew up an atheist, became more of an agnostic in early adulthood, and now I classify myself as a hopeful Christian. I'm not sure I actually believe what they're putting out, but I like the idea of eternal life in heaven, and hope it's true. However, the tradition of the major US holidays is very important to me, even though they are commercial wastes of money!

 

[Old Microbiologist]

dirtbiker - Yes, but these holidays also contribute overall to the economy and are important in a consumer based economy so in a left handed way are actually necessary. The "new" Black Friday phenomena is a good example of that and it does extend to outside the US even here to Hungary. They have no clue what Thanksgiving is but they are very eager for Black Friday. The rest of the Americanized commercial holidays have so far, not taken on.

I also worked with a number of other ethnicities but in the military it was actually fairly rare in the years I was in to see anyone else volunteering. So, generally I was the only one I knew of doing that. I did a lot of moonlighting as a Medical Technologist when I was stationed in the US and worked at civilian hospitals on the night shift so I often took holidays there as well. It made little difference to me but I do know there is a distinct increase in craziness on holidays, particularly on New Years Eve and Christmas and I could always look forward to having hellaciously busy shifts those nights with a lot of toxicology screens, blood alcohol levels, and blood transfusions all of which back in the day were extremely labor intensive in the laboratory. I can also personally attest that Full Moon nights are crazy ones as well. When I was going to University to get my BS (I had grandfathered in as a Medical Technologist) I worked night shifts and went to school in the daytime (this was after serving 15 years as a Sergeant in the Army as a Senior NCOIC of laboratories) I was not able to get a lot of sleep. The lab permitted sleeping on shift but on those holidays and Full Moon nights it was hopeless to even think about it. Normally, I did homework or wrote papers but you could depend on it being a busy night on those days. So, no homework and no sleep. Later after I graduated and became the Laboratory Director at my hospital we had no night shift (not my choice but for budgetary reasons) so all of us pulled on-call duty to cover nights. I always took the holidays and Friday night every week. Not too long after I got involuntarily recalled to active duty in the Army for another 18 years from that job until I reached my maximum age of service and retired. I had repeatedly attempted to retire which was categorically refused as I was "mission essential". I was able to get a PhD out of it though which put me into the essential position doing sensitive classified research. I still volunteered even then but I was in the Field Officer of the Day role by then which was a weekly duty so harder to arrange for holidays. This was when I did the ski patroller thing for 20 years. But, I recall those earlier days sometimes fondly.

 

[jjuneau]

Just too much money

Some folks just have too much money. In a neighborhood near where I grew up, one family rented props from Hollywood movie studios and held a lavish party for Halloween. They spent about $100,000 each year, plus a fine for putting decorations on city property. At least your neighbors are celebrating Christmas, not Halloween.

 

[dirtbiker]

dirtbiker - Yes, but these holidays also contribute overall to the economy and are important in a consumer based economy so in a left handed way are actually necessary. The "new" Black Friday phenomena is a good example of that and it does extend to outside the US even here to Hungary. They have no clue what Thanksgiving is but they are very eager for Black Friday. The rest of the Americanized commercial holidays have so far, not taken on.

I also worked with a number of other ethnicities but in the military it was actually fairly rare in the years I was in to see anyone else volunteering. So, generally I was the only one I knew of doing that. I did a lot of moonlighting as a Medical Technologist when I was stationed in the US and worked at civilian hospitals on the night shift so I often took holidays there as well. It made little difference to me but I do know there is a distinct increase in craziness on holidays, particularly on New Years Eve and Christmas and I could always look forward to having hellaciously busy shifts those nights with a lot of toxicology screens, blood alcohol levels, and blood transfusions all of which back in the day were extremely labor intensive in the laboratory. I can also personally attest that Full Moon nights are crazy ones as well. When I was going to University to get my BS (I had grandfathered in as a Medical Technologist) I worked night shifts and went to school in the daytime (this was after serving 15 years as a Sergeant in the Army as a Senior NCOIC of laboratories) I was not able to get a lot of sleep. The lab permitted sleeping on shift but on those holidays and Full Moon nights it was hopeless to even think about it. Normally, I did homework or wrote papers but you could depend on it being a busy night on those days. So, no homework and no sleep. Later after I graduated and became the Laboratory Director at my hospital we had no night shift (not my choice but for budgetary reasons) so all of us pulled on-call duty to cover nights. I always took the holidays and Friday night every week. Not too long after I got involuntarily recalled to active duty in the Army for another 18 years from that job until I reached my maximum age of service and retired. I had repeatedly attempted to retire which was categorically refused as I was "mission essential". I was able to get a PhD out of it though which put me into the essential position doing sensitive classified research. I still volunteered even then but I was in the Field Officer of the Day role by then which was a weekly duty so harder to arrange for holidays. This was when I did the ski patroller thing for 20 years. But, I recall those earlier days sometimes fondly.

Sounds like you had a very interesting military career! The best officers are generally those who were prior NCOs IMO. And you know, I always thought that full moon stuff was hogwash... Until working in a hospital. Wow are full moon nights always busy! lol

 

[rk911]

i had ~ 30-yr career in public safety communications working and administering a large regional 9-1-1 comm center in suburban chicago. 15-fire depts, 12-police depts, 600,000 nighttime residents. never saw a correlation between the full moon and activity but halloween was easily one of the busiest nights of the year for us. early in my career it was third behind July 4th and new years eve. by the time i retired halloween had jumped into first place!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Sorry for the snarky response. I was probably peeved about something else when I originally replied here.

It's all good; I am guilty of the occasional snark myself.

i had ~ 30-yr career in public safety communications working and administering a large regional 9-1-1 comm center in suburban chicago. 15-fire depts, 12-police depts, 600,000 nighttime residents. never saw a correlation between the full moon and activity but halloween was easily one of the busiest nights of the year for us. early in my career it was third behind July 4th and new years eve. by the time i retired halloween had jumped into first place!

Interesting. I am curious as to what the exact numbers are for 911-type emergencies during full moons. I have a couple of friends that are emergency type responders (police, fire, EMTs) and they *all* say that things seems crazier during the full moon.