Time to take down the decorations

Perhaps my nephew, Tyler, has the right idea – all of those Christmas holiday decorations that are still up on houses in communities all across the metropolitan area are merely evidence of people getting a head start on celebrating the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.

There go the holiday horns. Photographs by Gregory Tejeda

And here I was merely thinking those people were just being too lazy to take down their often garish displays that were supposed to be a part of celebrating the baby Jesus’ birth (even though they probably view the holiday as a gauche gift-giving spree).

IT AMAZES ME the number of homes I come across that are all still brightly lit up and will remain so because people think the sight pollution they cause justifies their laziness to take down those decorations. Be real; even Kwanzaa is over by now.

I think that out of respect for the holiday, such laziness is downright wrong!

So I must admit when I was out at Midway Airport in the early hours of Tuesday, I actually got my joy by seeing a city crew hard at work taking down a set of golden horns that were part of the airport’s holiday decorations.

I also got to see an airport worker struggle to walk through the terminal with a giant wreath (probably about 8 feet around, by my guess) that had just been removed.
 

Airport crews working hard shortly after Midnight, believe it or not

THE HOLIDAY IS over at Midway, and it’s time to get on with the brand new year of 2016. Not that the holiday wasn’t enjoyable in its own ways. But all things must come to an end so we can move on to new good things.

Return this tree to nature

That’s what I can’t help but think whenever I see such gaudy displays. That, and the fact that someone’s too lazy to pull out the ladder to help remove the bright, bordering on obnoxious, displays they erected a couple of months ago in some cases.



Now I know it’s January. It’s not like these are the tacky people whose decorations remain in place in early April (baseball Opening Day should never bear little reindeer displays as part of the atmosphere).

It’s just that I wonder at what point does laziness become something we ought to lambast? Such as a business I saw recently with a nativity scene out front that looked as though neighborhood kids had taken baseball bats to the figures -- just for kicks!
 

If only all houses were this subdued, there'd be no problem

SPEAKING OF AIRPORTS, I actually had occasion to be at the Gary/Chicago International Airport on Tuesday – where the administrative offices still had a holiday tree with wrapped presents underneath.

Although I suspect the “presents” were merely empty boxes wrapped in colorful paper to provide the proper appearance for the holidaze.

I know I already have complained about those people who tried celebrating Christmas way back when it was still the Halloween season. Would it have been appropriate for little kids to go trick-or-treating dressed as Santa Claus?

Or perhaps as a batch of Santa’s elves – demanding treats instead of giving them as they made their round of the home neighborhood.

SO PERHAPS YOU should figure on spending a bit of time taking down those decorations – which cost you money and likely are sustaining damage due to the excess cold weather we felt Tuesday following Monday night’s sloppy snowfall.

How to bolster King Day interest

Which made for an interesting drive to Midway Airport, but that’s a story for another time.

Take down the decorations and put them away for use next year. Or else we’re going to have to presume you feel very strongly about the slain civil rights leader’s birth.

And somehow, I suspect many of these lazy people could care less about King or any holiday that doesn’t include an element of “gimme” in its description.

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