Monday, December 23, 2013

Around the Block: Merry Christmas Y'all!

It's traditional to share a few of the displays around my neighborhood for Christmas and this year is no different so we're taking a brief break from our tours of western Pennsylvania to show you a few fun things from an evening walk around the block.

New neighbors up the street display a Texas-style (and sized) greeting.  It must be 6' tall.  The first plant they added was a Texas Mountain Laurel 'Silver Peso' (not shown) which is my favorite native plant and a nice addition to the street.  They might be Texans--just guessing of course.


A sombrero-topped Santa moving to the beat of maracas is the contribution of our new neighbors next door.


Neighbors on the other side have icicle lights and a Candy Cane walk which makes three houses in a row lighting up the holiday nights, with our house seen in the middle.  The twinkle in some of these photos is provided by Picasaweb's Awesome Motion.


I always enjoy the "Feliz Navidad" house two blocks away



Lighted deer are popular in the neighborhood.


Wonder why.....(this was on the same walk at night)


Lighted trees on the double doors and a peek at the tree inside.


Red and white wrapped trees appear at two homes this year


Very wide candy cane stripes...


Oops!  Tornado lights...


Ring around the Live Oak





A Fiesta of lights with Venus in the sky to the right


Nativity scenes are very popular in San Antonio and this one is particularly sweet.


We have fun wrapping our trees in different colors that twinkle, blink, and flash.



New this year are purple lights on the Santa-rita prickly pear.  As soon as I saw the purple lights I knew exactly what to do with them!


And it has been so cold that I turned Agave ovatifolia into 'Frosty Blue' by adding snowflake lights to the strand of blue from last year.


Neighbors across the street moved to Iowa and left us their chili lights which I have wrapped around a raffia-covered straw wreath for the front door.


Merry Christmas Wes and Erin!  Try to stay warm.

Reflections of Christmas in the door glass from the tree inside and wreath outside.



Merry Christmas Y'all!

11 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas, Shirley! This was fun! The Picasaweb feature that makes the lights twinkle really adds something, in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your Christmas lights, especially those color-coordinated with your prickly pear and agave! Merry Xmas to you, Shirley!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You and your neighbors do the holiday up right, Shirley! The lighted Agave and Opuntia are a wonderful touch. Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sweet! That Picasa effect sure is fun! I LOVE the lights draped around the Cactus and the Agave. We don't get to see that around these parts. Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  5. And Feliz Navidad, just down I-10 from y'all in TX distances!

    I remember before my cactus grew wrapping lights around them, as well as the thorny mesquites. A lit-up lone star...something I haven't seen here; the lit-up Texas I definitely haven't seen, though they might be New Mexico transplants embracing their new state? And somehow, your neighbors' luminarias look even better with those stunning live oaks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In TX distance, should explain that David lives more than 500 miles from me and he's still in Texas! We're about 300 miles from the border in the other direction. Not far by our standards.

      Delete
  6. Wow, you have a fun and festive neighborhood!! Merry Christmas and all the best to you in 2014!! At least the lighted deer don't eat anything :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your neighbors and you've made amazing Christmas scenery!!! Love your Christmas lights with agave! I remember that you also did it last year:)
    Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Merry Christmas Shirley to you and yours....I love decorations that sow the region...these are fabulous!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great neighborhood, mine is not nearly as festive. Thank you for the fun tour.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm so glad you all enjoyed the neighborhood tour. This was just a few streets around us too.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by. To comment simply open the Name/URL option, put in your name or initials and skip the URL.