The holiday season is here. For many of us, that means breaking up the average, boring scenery with decorations that depict your favorite part of the holiday. Most of us love seeing how creative our neighbors are and will even sometimes engage in holiday decoration contests where you try to see who can upstage whom.
For the most part, holiday decorations are fun and everyone enjoys them but there are always exceptions. Sometimes a neighbor will go too far and instead of being a source of joy, the holiday decorations are actually an annoyance.
It’s important to know how to respond when your neighbor’s holiday decorating goes too far.
The first thing you should do is remind yourself that the holiday season is relatively short. The odds are good that the decorations will only be up for a few weeks. Try to decide if this is something that you really can’t live with for the short term.
If the decorations are really driving you crazy, have a friendly chat with your neighbor to discuss the situation. Explain exactly what the problem is and ask if they think there is a way you can compromise. If it’s a case of the flashing lights or sound effects keeping you up at night, maybe they will agree to turn off the problem decorations at an earlier time in the evening.
If they have decorations you simply find offensive, maybe you can convince your neighbor to move that particular item to a different part of their property where you don’t have to see it.
When meeting with your neighbors about their decorating, you must be prepared to compromise. It took a great deal of time to plan and set up the decorations which they obviously love. They won’t be willing to undo all of that hard work. When you’re willing to compromise, rather than simply making demands, your neighbor will be more willing to consider your side of things.
If the issue isn’t the decorations themselves, but rather the sheer amount of traffic the elaborate display is attracting, you can contact the police and ask them to patrol the area which will encourage traffic to continue moving.
Good luck and enjoy the holiday season!
