Neighbour finds our christmas lights "annoying"...

Padstow

NickyBat wrote: »

Her circumstances are irrelevant, the OP is paying the bill for them, it's not like they are on all night long, she has children and that's what Christmas is all about........children not some other person who doesn't like them, by complaining what did she expect the the OP to do?

I am all for keeping the peace with the neighbours but in this instance i think the the neighbour is being unreasonable, at the end of the day they are up for a few weeks and what happened to live and let live.

The lady's circumstances are relevant. To placate the neighbour by turning the lights off at nine, is no big deal.
If I were that lady, I would be happy with that. Try it OP.

make_me_wise

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

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

Your neighbour wants to live down my road right now. Some tasteful lights and a few inflatables sounds very tame. Think a couple of my neighbours must have shares in the national grid, such are their over the top xmas displays. It is for a few short weeks and makes me smile.

Personally I would ignore her. Your lights are doing no harm and your kids love it. If you feel under pressure then could the inflatables go in the back garden? Your kids would be able to see more of them there. Bit of a compromise could go a long way. Something tells me she will be off a few peoples xmas card lists, what a bah humbug hey!

seriousDFW

pinkladyof66 wrote: »

i would love it if our neighbours put up loads of lights for me to enjoy - come off it our curtains are drawn by 5pm anyway so by the time the lights come on at 6pm neighbour would already have them shut - they are just bar humbug ignore it - i would infact try and get some more put up to irrate them even more Kids love lights and I am pleased that yours enjoy them.

Do you mean "bah humbug"?

Great way to proceed - put more up to make the neighbour angry! Don't forget to explain this lesson clearly to any children so they learn that this is the right way to behave.

Why don't some people want to have respect and consideration for their neighbours? You live so close to them, wouldn't it be better to try and find a solution so that everyone can still get along?

JC9297

catkins wrote: »

Can you tell us where you live so I can make sure I never move there. I would hate to live somewhere with such snobs. "Not in keeping with the area"!!!!! I would hate to live somewhere like that and before you start assuming I live somewhere awful - I actually live in a nice part of Essex

I live in a very nice part of Oxford and it is not unknown to see lights on the front of and in the gardens of some large and very expensive houses. They look lovely, just lights not inflatable snowmen or dancing santas or anything like that.

dom300186

id be telling my neighbour humbug to you as well, id ignore it and carry on she only has to put up with it for a month whats the problem? i shut my curtains at 5pm to keep the heat in.

Bumpmakesfour

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

It seems very odd to say that you keep the lights on until 10.00 for your son and then say this!

Odd, verging on hypocritical!

Oh !!!!!!.I've explained myself enough.We do have two other non ASD kids who like lights...we are COMPROMISING!
We bloody spoke to DS and agreed the time that they go on and the time they go off.He is happy and sets his phone alarm,it's his "job" to turn on and off.If we'd have thought harder we could have said 9pm but we didn't,we said 10..ok.I never ever used DS' aspergers as an excuse,it was part of my explanation why we started "early"..along with me being very pregnant and I brought up his sleeping only when it was assumed my children were all in bed asleep by 10pm.
I'm not bloody answering anymore questions about it regarding my sons condition..I'm getting hacked off.
The lights are up,on the lowest settings,on the property we own and pay for.We've now moved the character lights about 2 feet downwards so they fall in line with our front wall so minimised the glare as much as possible.I've actually gone from feeling reasonable to being angry and quite frankly now I don't care..our lights are staying up as they are.I've sat here today and watched houses on the street PLASTER every inch of their houses in lights and leave them on the fastest flashing settings without giving it a thought so why am I even worrying?
I've been told on here I'm tacky,odd,hypocritical and using my sons condition as a red herring or whatever..over a few poxy lights that we can now see on a ton of houses near us.Are they worrying?Probably not.
ARRRGHHHH :mad:

Padstow

margaretclare wrote: »

What's a grinch?

I disagree about snob. It's nothing to do with snobbery.

The Grinch MC, was the worst rubbishy film I ever had to sit through as a mum. It was about someone hating Christmas, namely The Grinch.
My daughter still laughs at me over it, many years on.

If there is a Hell, it's watching that horrible film again.

aliasojo

Well if nothing else, this thread has shown up the natural differences in people's tastes. It's just a shame so many opinions have been disparaging of other's choices.

seriousDFW

dom300186 wrote: »

id be telling my neighbour humbug to you as well, id ignore it and carry on she only has to put up with it for a month whats the problem? i shut my curtains at 5pm to keep the heat in.

A month of feeling distressed, uncomfortable or even inconvenienced is a long time!

Just because this particular thing wouldn't cause you to feel like this, have some empathy with this neighbour.

ivylinn

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

She is a nosey neighbour yes so maybe I am interrupting her watching the local kids come home from school/the drunks from the pub round the corner stagger home?
Gobbledygook..are you a 60+ widowed italian lady

I was wondering if she was a widow from your first post. Is it possible that it isn't the brightness that is annoying her. Maybe the lights remind her that it's christmas and that is really what is upsetting her?