Neighbour finds our christmas lights "annoying"...

mummyroysof3

i dont think your house looks too bad tbh..would drive me mad though if they were flashing. I shut my curtains at front about 4pm atm as it gets very dark in there and dont like having light on with curtains open. I would leave as is and let her moan about next doors as they are worse than yours lol

Badger_Lady

No, you shouldn't annoy your neighbours, but you also shouldn't feel trapped in your own home and forced to bend to their every wish. There are compromises in every relationship!

margaretclare

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

We put our christmas lights up( as we have for the past seven christmases)yesterday and I have to say the house looks FAB.There is a fine string of lights round the top of the house/bay window,a string of icicles across the middle then 3 characters on the garage.We don't use the flashy onoffonoffonoff settings,they go on when hubby gets in(6pm ish) and off at about 10pm.
Anyway this morning after one night of having them on a neighbour who lives opposite wanders over whilst we are putting the tree up and says she isn't impressed that she has to close her curtains to block out the light from our decs.I didn't really know what to say tbh,we've been neighbours since we moved in and she's never mentioned it before.
I'm sat here now feeling bad but should I be?It's christmas,we have young kids who LOVE the house looking like it does and were so happy when we switched them on..are we being selfish?:o

It's not Christmas yet. It's the 2nd Sunday of Advent today. It's only the 4th December!!

I am glad we have none of these near us, although some may arrive in the next couple of weeks, but quite honestly I'm glad we haven't. They would be just an annoyance, and what a waste of electricity!

BTW it is nothing to do with snobbery.

Curlywurli

I love your lights. I love lights at Christmas time (even if they are put up in early December). I spent years getting the bus home on dark cold nights and sitting on it for an hour and the thing that got me through those cold journeys was sitting on the bus and looking at all the lovely lights on the houses.

One of my neighbours always has lights hanging from his shed (flashing) and yesterday added reindeer on the top of it. I love it, the kids love it. Life's too short to worry about a miserable neighbour who has no real complaint. She was probably just feeling lonely and that was the only small talk she could think of.

:xmastree:(Sorry, couldn't resist)

photome

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

I totally understand.We have put up with early morning opera doorstep cleaning missions,her three yappy dogs barking and barking for hours on end in the garden.We've not complained about not being able to get our babies to sleep because her latest lodger is fixing his car on the road just under the bedroom window with his techno blaring out at ten/eleven pm whilst she hands him cups of tea knowing we have young kids upstairs.We only ever asked very politely twice to access/leave our drive when her sons car was left parked across it.We drop in a xmas card each year and the kids gave her some chocs last year.So she has shown little or no consideration towards us but STILL we feel bad about putting a few lights on our own house!I'll sleep on it but honestly feel she's just moaning for the sake of moaning:o

I would do as someone else said and point out all the complaints you have or have had about her behavior, and then leave the lights on.
We dont need a pic as others keep suggesting.

EDIT I see you have now bowed to some posters and posted the pic, If she feels the need to complain about those lights she must be a very miserable person.

PS I dont really get why people cover their houses with lights, but would never complain

Spendless

I like Christmas lights, though have none myself. Taking the kids to see all the displays was always something I did. I almost posted last night saying though there's no houses opposite me, there's a building with security lights and depending on the angling they can irritate and 'seep' thru any gap in the curtains and was going to suggest you spoke to your neighbour again and perhaps went round to see how they looked from an opposite angle. Since then I see you've posted about all the things they do. I have neighbours like that too, convinced they do no wrong (my neighbour told me her 4 yappy dogs didn't bark :rotfl:-when she rang me to moan my 7yo had stepped over a narrow flower-bed and I told her if I rang her every time she irritated me, she'd receive a daily phonecall ) Ignore her and enjoy the last few weeks of your pregnancy. If she comments again just say 'yes, we all have to tolerate each other don't we, your lodger/music etc gets on my wick' I can't wait for my neighbour to start again tbh, as I have some lovely snaps of her back garden to show anyone official -of the cannabis plant she's got.;)

Bumpmakesfour

Oh bahh humbug!!:p
I'm not getting into this whole "it's not christmas yet" and to be totally honest being told my house looks tacky or rubbish doesn't bother me.I'm being honest here,christmas is not a particularly religious time for us and if we are "early" according to some then so be it.We decorate our house for US and if some of you think our house is OTT wow you should see the houses on the next road or especially the ones a few roads down on the nearest council estate.They have flashing santas climbing up chimneys,shooting stars flying over the roof and that's the low key houses
The ONLY factor in this that worries me is not upsetting my neighbour even though none of the others have a problem and the surrounding ones will no doubt be buying up most of homebase this afternoon in an attempt at one-upmanship!
To reiterate...I have explained already that my sons autism means we need a lot of time to introduce changes to him and being heavily pregnant with a bump that could arrive at any time we are preparing things now.We have three young primary school aged children and hubby is a total big kid,they love it and it makes them happy.Seeing them smile makes me smile Neighbour isn't a shift worker,she's an elderly lady who puts a huge christmas tree full of bright bright twinkly red lights in her front window.
We have been and continue to be,as considerate as we can be unlike said neighbour who shows absolutely zilch consideration for her those around her.She's actually quite "lucky" that it was me she spoke to as hubby is so hacked off by her music at 5/6am,woofing dogs,lodgers techno blaring etc he'd have probably set our house to major flash mode just to make a point!
I'll speak to her later,take her christmas card over,maybe grab her some chocs again and explain the above..see what she says.And really if she does have to close her curtains to hide the lights for three weeks I don't feel that's too much to do.Afterall we can't close our curtains to shut her noise out:p

Bumpmakesfour

Welshwoofs wrote: »

I'm happy to be a grinch. I can't bloody stand these vulgar displays outside people's houses and I'm bloody glad nobody round here does it (actually, I don't think people are allowed to round here as its not in keeping with the area)

Anyway, if a house opposite me was decked out like some low-rent seaside resort I think I'd just slip round under cover of darkness with a pair of pruning shears and cut the ruddy power cable. Job done.

People not "allowed" as it's not "in keeping with the area"?Houses decked out like a "low rent seaside resort"? Oh dear.Not sure about you being a grinch..a snob on the other hand......:rotfl:

busiscoming2

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

Ok here's the front of the house.Will get a full pic 2mro night.So..is it majorly OTT??

No It's not that bad, ours is REALLY tacky :eek:, OH does the outside of ours and I do the inside (I only have a tree and a bit of tinsel) whereas he loves to go OTT.

Its only for about two - three weeks of the year (they aren't up yet), and although some people may hate them the vast majority think they are cheery.

OP - take no notice of your neighbour, it's not as though they are there all year.

geri1965_2

seriousDFW wrote: »

I do feel sorry for those living in streets whose residents feel the need to do this, as their personal choice affects everyone in quite a garish way.

If you are in any way "affected" by other houses in the street having a few lights up, then I think you seriously need to get a life.

Whatever happened to live and let live? It isn't hurting anyone, so what is the problem?