Stalker Santa

One of the things I really enjoy about our neighborhood (and especially our little corner of the neighborhood) is that almost everyone puts out Christmas lights at this time of year.  I love driving around in December looking at all the light displays, from the tacky to the tasteful.  I am trying very hard to make it a family Christmas tradition that we all pile into the car one night in our PJs with hot chocolate and drive around on a light tour.  We attempted this last night, and since our girls were involved it was fun but also highly stressful.  There was spilled hot chocolate (which luckily I had made sure was more like warm chocolate in case of spillage, but it still caused shrieking), stops to go pee pee, complaining when Emily realized we'd be driving by Dancing Bear downtown but not actually going in, girls screaming at each other and Charlotte's constant car jabber (including incessant requests for fireworks, please?) that is adorable but gives me a headache.  Will wondered why we even try to do anything like this, but it's something that I think we'll all enjoy having memories of.

One decoration I do NOT approve of is something my neighbors put out every year that I can see from my dining room window.  As I walk around my house at night, I am often alarmed by this sight:

Ominous

 Looking closer (and blurrier, thanks to my phone camera's limited abilities) you see this:

Creepy

 In the light of day, it looks like this:

Not so bad

I don't understand why they need to spotlight it with red at night.  Will thinks I'm crazy, but I say catching a glimpse of a glowing red humanoid face hovering in your neighbor's bushes at night every time you walk by the window is quite startling.  And I don't know about you, but for me feeling startled and vaguely unnerved does not inspire Christmas spirit.