Extravagant Christmas displays despite Economy

While Manhattan’s store windows, probably led by Macy’s, get most of the attention for New York’s Christmas displays, private homes are often decorated as well, and in no neighborhood is this more apparent that in Brooklyn’s Dyker Heights. The displays are often produced by professional decorating firms, and the results are wonders to behold.

There is clearly a competitive spirit here, and the competition seems to be on several fronts: the size of decorations, the number of lights and the variety of decoration. (I found no evidence of taste being a competitive factor.) 84th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues is home to the two most elaborate displays, across the street from each other. The Nutcracker-themed house at 1145 84th Street may well consume more electricity than any of the others, and that’s saying something.

The competitive spirit seems to have led some neighbors to have given up on the idea of decorating, if not entirely, then nearly so. If 15 or 20 strings of lights pale by comparison the the neighbor’s professionally-designed display, why bother?

Decorating themes, while Christmas-centric, vary widely, and while they include religious themes, other themes are in greater evidence: Santa, reindeer, snowmen, nutcrackers, toys, cartoon characters and even pink flamingos can be found.

Sightseers are plentiful in the evenings before Christmas, and traffic on some streets barely crawls along. Coach tours frequent the area as well, as do walking tours. For over-the-top Christmas displays, Dyker Heights is hard to beat.