When our daughter came along in 2000, I decided she would not be deprived of holiday kitsch, so I mapped out a route of nearby homes I could count on for gaudy displays. While our southern California neighborhood of Studio City went for minimalism, I found exactly what I was looking for in nearby Burbank, particularly a home so decoration-heavy it’s been in books and on TV…
Although I have to give the home’s next-door neighbor the award for best holiday decoration of all…
Eliza bowed out of my beloved holiday activity when she became a teenager, so I roamed the streets alone and lonely. Even the house where you could tune in to their private radio station to hear music coordinated with their laser display didn’t cheer me up. And then I came up with an idea. Why not invite a few of my gal pals to join me? I reached out to three neighbors, and they eagerly signed on for the adventure. What a joy it was introducing them to holiday sights none of them had ever seen before. We finished the evening with cocktails at a local bar, adding a boozy period to our exclamation mark celebrating the holidays. Since then, it’s become a tradition for us.
Yes, all white lights. You can take the girl out of Westchester Country, but you can’t take the WC out of the girl. Every year we debate skipping our display, and then a neighbor walks by and asks when the deer will go up on the roof and tells us how much they look forward to it, and my husband pulls out the ladder.
Our house may not make a book or TV show, and we may not offer our own synchronized music station, but to know “the house with the deer on the roof” may be on someone else’s Christmas Outdoor Décor Tour fills me with the spirit of the holidays.
Readers, do you enjoy over-the-top holiday displays? Are there any in your neighborhood? Comment to be entered to win a copy of It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder.
SYNOPSIS: Astoria, Queens, is decorated within an inch of its life for the Christmas season, and Mia Carina is juggling her job at the Belle View catering hall with a case of murder . . .
Mia’s busy with a full schedule of events at the family business—among them an over-the-top Nativity-themed first birthday party and a Sweet Sixteen for a teen drama queen. But her personal life is even more challenging. Her estranged mother has returned—and her lifelong friend Jamie has discovered a shocking secret about his past. He’s so angry that he starts hanging out with Lorenzo, who claims to be his long-lost brother—even after it becomes clear that Lorenzo’s story is as fake as a plastic Christmas tree.
Then a body turns up among the elves in a Santa’s-workshop lawn display, and amateur sleuth Mia has a buffet of suspects to choose from. Amid the holiday celebrations, she intends to find out who’s the guilty party . . .
Italian recipes included!
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ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new book, Ellen . . . it sounds like Mia has her work cut out for her . . . .
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, I do enjoy Christmas decorations . . . although we don’t do a lot of outdoor decorating, it’s fun to check out all the neighborhood displays. They run the gamut from just a few lights to a decoration-filled yard.
And I love the deer on the roof!
Thanks so much, Joan! Glad you like the deer and enjoy outdoor decor.
DeleteLove the festive photos you shared! I like seeing the lights on houses! Congrats on your latest book!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it fun? Thanks, Linda!
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DeleteWe love to walk the neighborhood and look at all the lights. A lot of hard work.
ReplyDeleteI know!! Lots of hard work. I always worry about my husband on the roof.
DeleteCongratulations on your book release.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to see holiday decorations galore, head to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and you will have your fill.
I'm lucky if I put up a tree.
Dru, the Dyker Heights decorations inspired my subplot. And I LOVE your tree!
DeleteGreat idea to go on a tour with your buds! There's apparently a home in my town that goes way over the top, but I've never been by to see it. I just hope all these overlit places are using LED and have solar panels to generate the electricity. That's a heck of a lot of power.
ReplyDeleteLove your deer on the roof - and the book! I'm halfway through.
Thank you so much! And I think the house does use solar power. And Lobstah Shack is on pre-order for me. xo
DeleteELLEN: Welcome back to JRW and congratulations on your latest Catering Hall mystery.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading it and think it is the best one in the series (so far).
Over-the-top Christmas decorations at people's houses? Nope, none growing up in Toronto (Willowdale) nor in Ottawa where I now live.
But Ottawa does have some impressive Christmas lights in the public areas downtown, and at several parks where you walk/drive through the area (see link)
https://www.littlemissottawa.com/where-to-see-the-best-christmas-lights-in-ottawa/
BTW, the Youtube video in this link of the Carleton Place house with the 4-minute synchronized music setup is in the suburbs just outside of Ottawa's city limits.
Wesley Clover Park and the Lansdowne displays were closed due to COVID last year but I think they are a go for this Christmas since the Ontario government recently lifted the outdoor gathering ban limits.
Grace, thank you! So glad you like the book. And I'll check out these links.
DeleteWhile the over-the-top Christmas displays might be eye-catching for a minute or two, they quickly become boring to me. I don't seek them out but if I see them I'll view it and quickly move on.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any in my neighborhood, but if I did have an mega light display in my neighborhood, I'm sure that I would despise the annoyance.
I get it.
DeleteCongratulations on your book's release, Ellen!
ReplyDeleteOver-the-top-light displays are not for me -- like Edith, I worry about the power use, and like Jay, I would find it immensely annoying to live beside all that light and noise for the season. The deer on the roof at your place, however, Ellen, is certainly fun!
I'm glad you like the deer, Amanda. We're as subtle as you can get - with a deer on the roof!
DeleteThe guy down the block usually goes all-out for the holidays. There are so many lights, the streetlight on the corner is completely unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, we always went to see "the house up the hill," a big house with a sweeping front yard where they pulled out all the stops for Christmas decorating. Sadly, the cost of electricity made the owner pull the plug eventually, so it's no longer there.
I'm sorry the house on the hill is gone. The house in my pix has a donation box. They split between charity and the electric bill!
DeleteThe deer on the roof! Love it!
ReplyDeleteAnd it's fun that people have a once-a-year hobby that gives them joy. Are there actual holiday decoration designers? People who do that do a job? Hmmm...
Congratulations on the new book, dear pal!
Re: holiday decoration designers: yes, there are those specialists. My youngest son and family had a specialist/friend decorate their front porch for Halloween because they were participating in a Porch Crawl for Trick or Treat night
DeleteHank, thank you SO much! And congrats to you on being the Crime Bake guest of honor. So wish I could be there.
DeleteI used to enjoy seeing everyone's outdoor decorations but they seemed to have gone way overboard. I'm simply not crazy about all of the blow-up kind of decorations that people forget to maintain and then they look like puddles of "something" on the snow. A few tasteful lights can be very attractive (as long as they are not on all night next door to me!)
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of the blow-ups either. They're noisy!
DeleteCongratulations on the new release! I haven't started this series yet -- still working my way through the Cajun Country ones -- but am looking forward to them.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I enjoy other people's Christmas decorations. Our subdivision has an annual decorating contest (where the only prizes are bragging rights) and some of our neighbors put a lot of effort into it. We have always taken a minimalist approach -- enough to show we care, not enough to break a sweat putting them up or taking them down. Actually, a couple of years ago we hit on a new low-effort strategy that gets a lot of positive comment. We have several large deciduous trees on our front lawn, and we got a light that projects tiny, moving multi-colored lights up into the branches. They reflect off that tree like little fairy lights, dancing around. Hardly any effort at all but a big payoff in cheer!
Susan, there's a decorating contest in my book! And thanks so much for reading the Cajun Country series. Your trees sound lovely.
DeleteWelcome Ellen and congrats on the new book! Christmas is gaudy in Key West too, and we love it! And I love setting books during the Xmas season too:)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lucy! It's so much fun writing Xmas books. I'll have to look up Key West pix!
DeleteOh, Lucy, I spent a Christmas in Key West, 2006, and it was so delightful. My daughter was teaching at the elementary school there, and her fiance was working on a tourist boat. It was their year of adventure before they came home, got married, and settled down. So, my now son-in-law's parents, son-in-laws siblings, my son, and I joined the two adventurers for a Key West Christmas (my husband and the kids' father was in Afghanistan). We all walked around at night and looked at the Christmas decorations, which ran the gambit from pretty to Key West special. I had never spent Christmas away from home before, and I wasn't sure a Christmas in a warm climate would suit me, but it was one of my best.
DeleteLast Christmastime my stir-crazy husband and I decided to drive around our community to see Christmas lights. We were amazed at how over the top some people go with decorations. A couple houses clearly had someone come help deck their homes out; one homeowner had lights strung 40' feet high into trees. They definitely would have needed a crane to get them up.
ReplyDeleteMy brother's old neighborhood had "approved" decorations, and a list of decorators the residents could use. Everything had to be "tasteful", and to certain standards. Only one kind of bow for their mailboxes, for instance. Very Stepford Wives, you know. It will be interesting to see what kind of control freaks are in charge at his new fancy neighborhood.
Last year year I put out a string of candy cane lights our daughter gave us before they moved to Kenya, and a wreath on the front door. I might do something festive with the (brand new, finally) mailbox and Little Free Library, but that's it for outside.
I also worry about the use of electricity, plus all those decorations are made overseas. That makes me very uncomfortable, frankly.
Karen, I think there's a mystery plot in here - two! One: guy falls from crane. Was it an accident or murder? Two: someone bucks the "approved decorations" - and pays the price with their life!
DeleteMy family was always over the top before it became a thing. I have carried on that tradition until last year. I had just lost my husband and didn't feel it. This year I do. I've started so it won't be freezing when it's time to turn them on. I did find out that a senior tour had my house on their tour!
ReplyDeleteEv, that's wonderful! Good for you! I'm so sorry about your husband but you're an inspiration for finding the spirit again. I hope you share photos!
DeleteI can’t wait to read the new book! My love of looking at Christmas lights and decorations comes from my childhood. My family usually spent Christmas Eve night with my grandparents in Dallas so my mom would be there early to help with Christmas dinner (we lived about 25 miles away). We always spent Christmas Eve driving around Dallas looking at Christmas lights. Fast forward all these years later, and it’s still a tradition. A few days before Christmas, my nephew, my best friend, and I go to dinner and then we get hot chocolate from Starbucks and drive around looking at lights. I’m looking forward this Christmas.
ReplyDeleteChris, we would always drive from Richardson to Highland Park to look at the lights! Fun to share that memory with someone else!
DeleteThanks so much, Chris! And sounds like you have a wonderful time with your nephew!
DeleteThere's a couple in town whose house is so lit up you can see the glow for miles. They even have a full sized working carousel. Many years ago when the town decided to hold a lighting contest,they asked them to help judge instead because everyone knew nobody could compete with their displays.
ReplyDeleteI love over-the-top Christmas decorations. There used to be one on the street just behind a movie theater I frequented, and there were streets in some neighboring cities where all of the residents participated. Where I live now (a gated community), there was a contest for best Halloween decorations, so I'm hoping they do the same for Christmas. As for me, I moved last year so I had a wreath on my door, and that was it (although the inside of my house was decorated). This year I will ask my son, who lives nearby, to put up some of my outside lights. As for making a tour, my husband and I used to do that with our sons every year--until they became teens and couldn't be bothered (they asked for no more Advent calendars around them as well).
ReplyDeleteI love the contests! And funny how they turn teens and don't care. I just got myself a wine advent calendar. I bet your sons would like that - or a beer one!
DeleteCongratulations on your latest, Ellen!!! I love this series so much! I can't wait to dive in. Living in AZ, I have solar powered Christmas lights along the house eaves and on the cactus and bushes in the yard. I love that they're environmentally friendly and also I never have to think about turning them on or off - the sun takes care of that!
ReplyDeleteJenn, thanks so much for hosting me - and supporting the series! Solar powered lights are a fantastic idea. I'd love to see them on your cactus!
DeleteCongratulations on your latest Catering Hall mystery. I love the cover. It looks like home :).
ReplyDeleteMy dad would pile us in the car every year so we could check out the decorations. It was vicarious living in our case because we grew up in apartments. Candles in the windows and Glass Wax were our standbys. When I was in college a group of us from the dorm continued the tour. College was in South Florida and my favorite was a space capsule that launched between palm trees with Santa riding like Slim Pickins on the bomb!
Oh, that's hilarious, Kait! I love candles in the windows too. I've always wanted to do that but our house is a mid-century ranch, so the windows thing doesn't work.
DeleteHi ELLEN! Funny that I was watching the Gilmore Girls reruns on Netflix last night just before I read this last night. I could not comment until this morning. Welcome to Jungle Reds and Congratulations on your new Catering Hall mystery.
ReplyDeleteSince I already read the book, I feel it is only fair to opt out of this giveaway so other people have a chance to read your book.
Christmas lights are wonderful on dark winter nights if I have to drive home after sunset. The streets with Christmas lights and decorations help me see at night. Some streets are dark. I love how you and your friends walk around the neighborhood looking at outdoor Christmas decorations. I can imagine Lorelai Gilmore doing this.
Happy book birthday!
Diana
Hi! Thanks so much for reading the book, Diana! And yes, excellent point about the lights provide both beauty and safety on a dark night.
DeleteWe are the over-the-top house on our street and I love it. Every time my husband leaves the house during the holidays he comes home with "just one more thing."
ReplyDeleteLOL! I am so with your husband. I was at Dollartree and they had these cute painted trees on a pole you could stick in the ground. Guess who came home with two? And is trying not to go back for more?
DeleteI enjoy looking at Christmas lights. I'm somewhere in the middle myself, with just a condo patio. Although, compared to some of my neighbors, I'm a minimalist. Still, it always makes me smile to come home and see lights.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I bought some lights to put up other times of the year. Still looking for some pastel colors to put up at Easter....
This is a great book! (No need to enter me in the giveaway.)
Mark, thanks so much!! It's amazing what people can do with a patio, balcony, or window. I used to love that when I lived in NYC.
DeleteHi Ellen! I love those displays. We used to drive our parents through one of the posh neighborhoods to see their displays. Imagine huge live oaks with fairy lights wound around the trunk and branches. Or luminarias lining the drive and sidewalks. Beautiful. Our own neighborhood is wonderfully funky and imaginative. One of my favorites is the fire-breathing reindeer facing off with an alligator in lights.
ReplyDeleteOh, that must have been beautiful. And Pat, you KNOW I want to see a pic of that fire-breathing reindeer v. alligator!
DeleteEllen, congrats on the new book! I can't wait to read this one! And I love your Christmas lights/cocktails tradition. I may have to start one myself. We have some over the top houses in our neighborhood, but I don't think anything can beat the Halloween extravaganza put up by one neighbor this year. It was a hoot. As for us, we put up some lights, just enough to make the house look cheerful. (And they are all LED except for one string...)
ReplyDeleteDeborah, thank you so much! I highly recommend my tradition. It reinforces the bond between us neighbor friends. As to Halloween, being this is L.A. we have set decorators and production designers in the city. One does a display called Boney Island. It's amazing. They stopped for a while but I think it's back. There may be pix online if you search "Boney Island San Fernando Valley
DeleteI miss driving around to see the lights like we did when the kids were little. There's been the occasional Christmas lights drive-around and park Christmas lights viewing when grandkids and their cousins would visit, but they are all too busy now. I think I might get husband in the car this year and go look at the lights. I decorate inside, but we don't do outside lights. My husband has never been interested in doing it, and I didn't want to do it by myself. But, I do have lots inside.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new book, Ellen. I always look forward to your book covers, as they are so exceptional.
Kathy, thank you so much. And do take a drive around. Then go home and toast each other with hot cocoa!
DeleteLove your tradition, your Daughter will look back 1 day and remember it all fondly,even do with her children💕
ReplyDeleteOr ask you 1day.
CONGRATULATIONS on Your fabulous book
Kathy
Gkathgoldin@yahoo.com
No need to add me to your contest😉
Thanks so much, Kathy!
DeleteI think your idea of driving around looking at lights with gal pals sounds like a great idea. I have recently relocated to an area I used to live in so it will be fun to check out houses that were old favorites and to find one ones whose decorations I like. Although I must admit that I prefer more toned down decorations than the over the top ones you have pictured. I am sure the competition is quite fierce in It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Murder and will be hilarious to read.
ReplyDeleteOh, revisiting old places sounds like so much fun!
DeleteWhen my children were young this was a favorite activity for us at Christmas. We had at least one night that we set aside to just drive around looking at Christmas lights. We had particular neighborhoods that you could count on having a LOT of Christmas lights, and my girls LOVED it. I like the idea of doing this with my gal pals, or I could even talk my adult girls into doing this with their mom! I love Christmas!!
ReplyDeleteTammy, I bet your daughters would love doing it again! A mother-daughters outing.
DeleteI *DO* love gaudy christmas lights, and when our grandkids come to visit that's what we do, drive around and take them in... and thank my lucky stars that none of that flashing and carol-singing is going on next door to us. Wondering if any little bit of Cajun country is making its way to Astoria?
ReplyDeleteLOL, Hallie, on both counts. And nope - this is a very Noo Yawk Christmas!
DeleteLove this post -- I was inspired by an earlier cozy Christmas mystery post to put together a "basket" for one of my grandkids' organization --- a dozen cozy Christmas mysteries, a mug, hot chocolate, and some chocolate candy. A Cozy Christmas Mystery Basket! And, by the way, last night I saw my first of the season Christmas lights on a house nearby (Hamden CT). Looking forward to more.
ReplyDeleteOh Denise, what a wonderful idea! I bet that basket was a HUGE hit!
DeleteI love over the top outdoor Christmas decorations. I love multicolored lights and plastic Santas and reindeer. I may have overdone it though. My grown son likes very tasteful, elegant decor and all white lights. 😫 I also love Christmas music, my boys begged me to wait until after Thanksgiving to listen in the car.
ReplyDeleteKathy, that's so funny how your son has done a 180 on decorations. I love Christmas music, too. There's a station that plays it for months here.
DeleteCongratulations on your new book release! Your book sounds like a great read and I love the cover! I love how you and your husband decorate your house, I love the deer, it looks very nice! Yes, there are a couple of houses in our small town that go all out for Christmas. Two days ago, we went to the store in the evening and there is a house already decorating their front lawn for Christmas! I enjoyed reading your post. Have a great week and stay safe. aliciabhaney(at)sbcglobal(dot)net
ReplyDeleteYou too, Alicia! And decorated already for Christmas? Yikes. That's a bit soon, even for me!
DeleteCongratulations on your new book being released! I love seeing Christmas displays, big or little. But I admit, it has been years since I've had the chance to see many. With things the way they are, I don't expect that to change this year either. I miss seeing people's lights and everything. Maybe next year things will be different. Thanks for the chance to win.
ReplyDeleteBlackfur1129(at)aol(dot)com
I hope you get the chance to see them again, Meg!
DeleteThe highlight of the Christmas season was when we all piled into the car(usually a stionwagon). Dad would drive us around the neighbor hood to see all the lights. It was the best of times
ReplyDeleteOh, that sounds great! We had a station wagon but I was jealous of our neighbors, who had a Country Squire with "the way back" seat.
Delete