Christmas Lights 2010

Christmas Lights 2010

A few days before Christmas Patty and I went out Christmas shopping and on our way back home, we stopped to look at some Christmas lights. Sorry for the below quality pictures, these were all shot with my HTC Hero phone. Enjoy the photos.

Christmas Lights 2010

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LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL

Most Popular Decoration In Minnesota

Metrodome Gingerbread House

For the 2010 Christmas season, this is the most popular decoration purchased in the state of Minnesota. “Fired” Childress pot warmers are running a close second.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all the Vikings fans, a very good quarterback in the draft.

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LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL

On The First Day Of Christmas

A Major Award

To kick off the Christmas Holiday season, I thought I would sing the Twelve Days Of Christmas for everyone. However, Patty informed me of the International ban from 35 countries preventing me from singing.

But its Christmas, so damn the torpedoes. Here goes…

On the first day of Christmas,
The Grassy Knoll sent to me,
A leg lamp in the window.

Oh yea, can you spot the LOTGK logo.
Hint, its not on the Italian lamp.

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The Mad Ice Scrapper

At dinner last night, I was reminded of an event that happened back in the 1970’s. I believe it was the winter of 1976, or maybe 1977. It was a Christmas holiday type event where each neighbor tried to outdo the next in Christmas decorations presentations. Being in the midst of the energy crisis, a time when just a few years earlier President Richard Nixon preached to all Americans to conserve oil, gas, and electricity. The Christmas light decorators had to find more energy efficient means to showcase their homes.

They came up with a very ingenious concept of brown and white paper lunch bags and nickel candles. The home owner would open each paper bag, add about an inch of sand to add weight so they would not blow away and line them starting at the street curb and then wind their way on both sides up their driveway. They would then add the nickel candles and light them. The paper bag would illuminate to a very bright decoration and the bag height would block the wind keeping the candle lit.

It would take hours to set up the bags and then every night relight or replace the candles and re-align whatever bags needed to be placed back into position.

That’s where Brad and I came in. At the height of the Christmas season, when every household was illuminated with these energy efficient decorations, we would take to the streets with our car. I was in my 1968 yellow Camaro, and we would find a street aglow with these light bags. I would then get really close to the curb and Brad would open the car door, and using the ice scrapper would mow down as many of the bags as he could.

Its hard to describe the sound the bags made when they came in contact with the ice scrapper, something like Thrack, thrack, thrack. We were laughing like idiots watching the bags almost explode as they were hit and then catch on fire immediately afterward. We would go street to street with the mad ice scrapper.

This went on for some time until we began to get chased from the neighbors who began to recognize the yellow Camaro. The mad ice scrapper retired after an all to brief reign of terror.

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LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL