Making the Yuletide Gay
I always know that it’s Christmas when the house at the bottom of my street puts up their life-size abominable snowman, complete with an inflatable Santa Claus who is doing something to the snowman that…let’s just say it’s something that I really don’t think Santa would ever do. It’s definitely not a tableau for the whole family, but it’s come to make me feel like I am home for the holidays, admittedly in a perverse kind of way.
I recently passed by the snowman en route to a brunch/ornament exchange at my friend Kenny’s place in the Castro. The whole scene is not quite as impressive during the day. At night, snowman and Santa are illuminated by the (approximately) 5,000 strings of lights that decorate the rest of the house where they hang. In the light of day the whole thing seems slightly seedy and desperate. Never underestimate the importance of good lighting! Red lights are especially effective at emphasizing the flattering things while downplaying areas that could use improvement (ergo, the red light district in Amsterdam). Lucky for the snowman and Santa, red lights feature predominantly in the overall color scheme.
I think I am going to try to avoid the daytime version- it was kind of depressing. I prefer to think of the snowman and Santa full of enthusiam and passion, brazen in the absolute wrongness of their holiday glory. I have grown to love the way they make my Yuletide just a little more gay every time I pass them by.
