Monday, December 14, 2009

A little Christmas (fl)air goes a long way

Christmas is blowing up on my street*, y'all. All my neighbors seem to be very in the Christmas mood - there are lights and wreaths and tinsel decorations everywhere. As I was leaving my apartment one night this weekend, I noticed a popular recurring theme: Christmas balloons. You know, those really big decorations that are kept inflated by a big fan and backlit by some magical Heavenly mechanism. They are the height of tackiness, so naturally I love them. And apparently my neighbors do too, because at least four brownstones on my street currently have big Christmas balloons in front of them.

First on the tour de balloons: Santa riding a rocking horse. Naturally. And yes, it was rocking back and forth, I assume powered by an oscillating fan.

















Next, a Santa whose body apparently disappeared inside his beard**. I assume he went all Atkins on us, then became aggressively hungry due to lack of carbs and ate himself. This is my favorite. (Shhh, don't tell the others.)

















Third, a polar bear family!  Here, we see a Papa polar bear, a baby polar bear and... Snoopy? Whatevz. There are no rules in the wondrous world of Christmas balloons.

And finally, we come to Santa riding a polar bear. It makes a nice homage to balloons one and three, I think, while still managing to maintain its own sense of individuality.

















All of this reminds me of freshman year of college. C and I were dorm neighbors, and for  Christmas we went in together on a balloon snowman to put outside our rooms. We plugged him up and placed him between our two doors, and the fan barely worked - we adopted him from Wal-Mart - so he just kept deflating and toppling over. We would come home and there he would be, face flat on the floor, arms splayed to the sides - nothing but a former version of his puffy snowman self. It became a running joke for several years, our sad little balloon snowman.

This year, I could not afford a sad balloon snowman, but I did purchase some Christmassy stuff and decorate my room. Below is my contribution.

















It's a real (albeit dwarf) tree! It smells so good. In New York, people sell Christmas trees on the sidewalks. You'll be walking along- I got mine in Harlem, of course - and all of a sudden you'll find yourself surrounded by trees, in a delicious-smelling Christmas forest. It's amazing. I got some baby ornaments for my baby tree and topped it with a flower pin that I normally wear as an accessory with dresses; the "Meghan Dr." sign is a cheesy souvenir I got from the Empire State Building when my parents visited back in October. (It's really hard for me to find name-based souvenirs because they always spell it "Megan" or "Meagan" or something equally abysmal, so I tend to snatch things up when I see it spelled correctly.)

The greeting card is from my dentist. I guess he sent it because he felt bad for making me miss the Rockefeller tree lighting; it only makes sense for me to make him an integral part of my own personal one.

Happy holidays, world.


*Quite literally, and yes, pun completely intended
**This might also be a snowman

12 comments:

  1. love that tree and the touches u added...i will never understand why folk buy those blow up xmas things... they look so sad once the generator is off and they're lying on the ground like drunks.

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  2. In the vein of infalted decorations, I am also partial to the inflated "snow globe thingy". My neighbors have one of those for ever single season. Now is has children ice skating inside, but before this there was a turkey, earlier, a pumpkin, before that easter eggs.. it just goes on and on. I love the tacky! I think it comes from my southern roots.

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  3. LoL. Us New Yorkers know how to do Christmas!!! I <3 Christmas, and your tree is adorable. Before I left Iraq, I left a small tree with little decorations on it for my roommates!

    Also, the hair pin as a Tree Top, LOVES IT! You are so creative!

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  4. The deflated christmas inflatables somehow remind me of colorful discarded condoms laying around...

    Happy almost anniversary on your move to NYC!

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  5. You're New York musings are so entertaining to read! Being from the South and all, I love reading about the holidays in the big apple!

    WhereForArtThouRomeo

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  6. Of course you'll have to miss the Rockefeller tree lighting for something silly like an appointment!

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  7. Makes me wish I was done with college and could actually afford to go all out for Christmas. I may be single, but I'd still go all out.

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  8. How funny! This just goes to show how much New Yorkers and Missourians are alike. I happen to have a neighbor who things it is great to cram like eight of those balloon things into a small front yard!
    Oh Christmas!

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  9. Hi. I just found your blog. Very cool. I'm the opposite, born and raised in NY and now living in the South. :)

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  10. Your tree looks very similar to mine, except its fake. The ornaments are for regular sized trees so they pretty much overwhelm the poor thing.
    I also have a problem finding those name tags, unless your are visiting Savannah, GA. and then well you have endless possibilities, but I've never actually been there :-(

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  11. We have three small children we live in country Western Australia and this year decided to buy a set of Christmas lights each year to decorate our large front yard. As the kids get older they can celebrate each year putting up the lights we are all excited. GO ALL OUT FOR CHRISTMAS I SAY

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