By: Jennifer Marino
As a child I remember staying cozy inside the car while I rolled down the window of our Buick La Sabre to ooh and aah at the lights. White lights with a few, well placed wreaths were pretty, but the houses thatÊguaranteed to slowÊthe car down, were the ones that had every inch covered with some sort of decoration. As a seven-year-old, my theory about Christmas decorations was the more lights the better.
So when an upset Rockville Centre resident phoned me last week to share his Christmas decoration woes, a part of me smiled asÊI remembered theÊlights of Howard Beach. The man and his wife, who live on the south side of town, decorated their house for Christmas in November. They wanted their grandchildren to see the lights, candy canes and toy soldiers when they came over for Thanksgiving. While the children were delighted, some neighbors were less than thrilled. An anonymous note was sent from a neighbor criticizing the decorations. It read, in part, The whole package is a scene from Howard Beach transported, unfortunately, to RVC.
Bah humbug, right?
Crawling through Howard Beach at 10 miles an hourÊwas the highlight of the holiday season for me for so many years. At some houses we even parked so we could get out and inspect the displays up close. One house had animatronic puppets in a Santa-s workshop scene, another blasted Christmas carols. But the best house had a real live Santa Claus sitting on the porch. He would listen to my wishes for gifts and hand me a candy cane. The house next door to Santa had no lights at all. My mom would say, I wonder what they think of all this. My guess isÊthey had similar thoughts to the anonymous Rockville Centre letter writer.
I can-t say for sureÊif any of those houses in Howard Beach, whether elegant, garish or somewhere in between, ever got complaints about their decorations. All I knowÊis thatÊif they did, it never stopped the people who lived in them from stringing their lights, suspending Santa and his reindeerÊfrom telephone lines andÊsending their electric bills through the roof. OneÊwish I have thisÊChristmas is the hopeÊthatÊaÊletter fromÊan anonymous sourceÊdoesn-t stop the Rockville Centre couple from showing their Christmas spirit either.
I live on Long Island now, but I think I-ll take a ride back to Queens this weekend. It-s been a while since I oohed and aahed at some beautiful lights.Ê
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Comments on this story? jmarino@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 221
