The Villages, near Orlando, may bill itself as”Florida’s friendliest retirement hometown,” but it is hardly friendly in terms of personal and architectural expression. Residents are restricted to choosing one of a couple of house layouts, and they’re then limited in what they can do to the outside, per the Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions. This includes the upkeep of houses and yards, what cars can be held in drives or on roads, and when and how garbage may be put on the curb; also limited are signage, lawn ornaments and other clutter which would add a bit of individuality to the fairly homogenous suburban streetscapes.
However, in the weeks leading up to and following Christmas Day, these restrictions are lifted, at least when it comes to the decorations which may be set on the houses and in the yards (air conditioner units and satellite dishes, among other components, still cannot be installed ). So for about a month, The Villages is transformed from a green and beige location to an extremely colorful one. The identical can said of a lot of location in the United States, but probably not to such an extreme. The photographs from this ideabook are from a small area near my parents’ home at The Villages, providing an idea of the way the place comes alive during the vacations.
John Hill
One of my favourite Christmas displays is one of the most tasteful, taking advantage of the blank gable ends that too often happen on corner lot. By afternoon the white silhouette of the Nativity scene is seen from the biege wall, but during the night a trio of lights casts shadows on it, turning it from something plain into something telling the story of Christmas.
John Hill
On the opposite end of the spectrum is a full block on which each house is done up with lights around the house eaves and ridges, trees and bushes; different structures decorate the lawns (arches, snowmen and also this”shrub” in front of one house).
John Hill
However, what’s unique about this one block (many cubes have dense lights) is the way all of the lights are synchronized to blink and change color with music. Note the change in the”tree” from green to reddish here.
John Hill
People looking in the lights (and there are plenty, creating long lines of cars and golf carts — the latter being the preferred mode of getting around The Villages) are told to tune to 95.1 about the radio in the home that anchors the choreographed show. They can go through the lights synchronized with different Christmas songs.
John Hill
Not only do people drive by in their cars and carts; they also park on adjacent blocks and walk over to see the lights and listen to the music blaring throughout speakers.
John Hill
Elsewhere in The Villages is a life-size statue of Santa Claus, waving at passersby from below a palm tree — quite the juxtaposition.
John Hill
Inflatables are fairly popular, and my daughter’s favourite was readily this one of Tow Mater (from the Cars movies ) wearing reindeer antlers.
John Hill
However, inflatables demand power for the continuous supply of air, therefore throughout the daytime The Village is awash in what I call”deflatables.” Here is one of a couple of reindeer pulling Santa in his sleigh.
John Hill
Didn’t believe me, did you really?
John Hill
And next door is that this pretty sad sight of limp nylon along with other objects in the yard.
John Hill
However, during the night the Nativity scene and tiny trees forms glow, as do the inflatable Santa and snowmen.
John Hill
Merry Christmas from The Villages!