Many Christmas lights where you live?

Jamie and I were talking about how few Christmas lights we have seen so far this year outside people's homes where we live in Norwich.

I guess it shows money is tight and also electricity costs have risen steeply so people may be thinking twice about unnecessary things like this. We normally put our lights up the first weekend in December and there are normally oodles of houses lit up before ours but not this year.

We have a reindeer in our garden that is lit up and it moves its head from side to side. Izzy wanted to "meet and greet" but was too scared to sniff its butt yesterday She finally summoned up the courage last night. Parker just stood next to it for a couple of minutes looking in the same direction (he's not known as "Nice but dim" for nothing!)

Has anyone noticed a lack (or proliferation) of Christmas lights in your area?

Yeah! THREE! (Mine's one of them) that's one more than last year when there were only two!

I understand someone's done their house up with lights for charity up in the Oriklini Hills. I will go and have a look at those once my kids get here.

I'm not putting any outside this year. I usually have them on my huge big fir tree but this year I have a small tree with battery lights on in the porch
I haven't seen any around here yet!!

theres a house 4 doors down from us that is totally OTT. they've sacrificed their double driveway to make a winter wonderland type thing. You can hardly see their house because its COVERED in and out in lights!!

There's LOADS round here, many more than usual imo. Talking to hubby about it and we think it's a reaction to the miserable state of things atm. People trying to bring some cheer

None here yet.....

I don't personally like them - but noteable highlights the nearby neighbours have decided we should all "enjoy" include two what can only be described as chickenwire covered in bacofoil reindeers that apparently are lit up so blue the hubby commented that it looked like the police were parked up in the street when he came home last night (I don't think they're secured down very well either from when they were fitting them the other day - so in the first gust of wind they may well end up being flying bacofoil reindeer) - other than that our actual street has a couple of sets of lights around the tops of bay windows, the neighbour's put his in the tree in his front garden like normal but he always forgets to turn them on... we tend to go more for holly wreaths on garden gates (they surprisingly don't seem to get nicked).

Round the corner though we've had a guy the last few years who's hung icicle lights in the leylandii in his garden - unfortunately the shape of the icicles when lit up, with bobbly uneven bits in certain places, makes the tree look like it's lit up with plastic replicas of a part of male anatomy - and once you see that in your mind - you can't un-see it!

Round near where my mum lives in Sunderland there's an estate where they really go to town on it all - in fact my mother's convinced Derby's stolen Christmas lights are destined to make a reappearance across someone's roof up there!

None here yet. I might go and get my tree on Monday next week.

I usually get a big 13ft one to fit the bay window, but somehow I am not even in Christmas mode yet.

I agree that it could be to do with the financial climate atm.

Not too many here and none are the sort that cause me problems so far. The ones in Fally are all white/yellow and non flashing, the locals seem to go for the multicoloured ones that change colours fairly slowly if at all. No mad flashing blue lights thank god!

Living semi rural in a place where there is mainly elderly people, there's a few but I can't see them unless I walk into the village..