Friday, December 23, 2022

Getting into the holiday spirit

The first bit of interesting Christmas cheer I spied this year was a house all decked out for the holidays with a Christmas Saguaro... 

Then I rediscovered my friend the ginormous Grinch.

Speaking of the Grinch, online friend Bridget Wosczyna (who I will meet IRL someday!) took this fabulous grinchy photo in San Diego, isn't he just the best? Thanks for letting me share it Bridget.

Then my friend Patricia reminded me about this house in our 'hood so I did a drive by...

The pink aluminum tree in the window is the perfect indoor counterpart to what's going on outside.

I keep meaning to do a night-time drive by to see it all lit up.

In addition to appreciating the holiday decorations I was stunned at how big everything has gotten since I first spotted this house back in March of 2020 (in this post, it's at the bottom). Those cordylines were only about 3 ft tall back then, I wonder if they'll survive our current cold snap?

The agaves were just spiky babies two years back.


The Santa Clones! It's a Portland Christmas tradition, to find the santas by following the clues which are doled out out on the Instagram account of Chris Willis, the man behind the santas.

I've been lucky enough to catch the santa display for many years now.

This year the 400 real santas became 800 with the help of a wall of mirrors. If you're curious about how this got started here's an bit of history in a Substack story.

As I spotted the albino santa...

... a group of kids joined me at the window and called him the naked santa. 

I'm surprised with the triple-threat of COVID, the Flu and RSV there weren't more masked santas. Come on dude, you're a role model!

Are those gangsta santas waiting to rob the unsuspecting when the lights go out?
 
I enjoyed being able to see behind the santa lines this year, the reality of how they're all strung together.

The same fellow, Chris Willis, does another display at Sunlan Lighting. I happened to be nearby one evening so I walked up to check it out.
A garden I visited back in 2015 (here) is the location for a crazy holiday lightshow via projection—first, isn't that cordyline hot!? There are so many around town with substantial trunks, thanks to our run of mild winters.

 Now the lights get started...

Wayne put a video of his work up on YouTube, check it out here.

Finally a another saguaro, this one in a garden I'll be writing about again next week (this one). I didn't make it by to take my own photo so I'm using one that Jess and Kariena sent after they completed the project. Isn't this fun? If your neighbor's think you're Arizona transplants (they're not) why not amp things up with a Christmas saguaro?

And don't forget...he sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake...

All material © 2009-2022 by Loree L Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

13 comments:

  1. This post is so awesome! It makes up for the lack of cool lighting near me. I've been wanting to set up our laser projector but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Me, the eternal procrastinator!

    Merry Christmas to you and Andrew!

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  2. I think these beat anything I’ve seen locally. Too cold even for a drive by.

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    1. It's a good thing I collected these photos earlier, as ice curtailed any thoughts of driving the last few days.

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  3. The Grinch is very popular here too, although he still hasn't eclipsed Santa. I love the annual Portland Santa display. I tried to talk my husband into a projected light show one year as he hates putting lights on the front of the house and I'm sure he'd enjoy the techie aspect of a projected display.

    Best wishes for a happy Christmas!

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    1. I didn't realize the Grinch was having a popularity surge, well, I can't say that's a bad thing.

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  4. Fun! Thanks for sharing the photos, and happy holidays and best wishes for the year ahead.

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    1. Happy Holidays to Beth, see you in September!

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  5. Love those grinches and santas. You must have a lot of fun scouting out all the houses with unique decorations. I hope you have a lovely Christmas day.

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    1. Actually I just came across them, a scouting trip would have been great fun though!

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  6. Lots of fun decorations in your neck of the woods, Loree.

    I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog this year - for entertainment, education and ideas. Thanks for all your posts and a happy and safe Christmas to you and yours 🙂

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    1. Thank you for the lovely comment Horticat!

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  7. What a jolly post :) :) :) The Santa Clones are wonderful - what a great idea! Loving the Christmas Saguaro too. From Lulu of Long Mizzle x (for some reason Blogger will not let me be me)

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