I would give it some thought too. We live on such a street in a different part of town. We light up every night for 2 weeks each year. Here are some things from personal experience:
Upside: If you are a Christmas person, this will make the season feel a zillion times more festive. It is also a great way to get to know and interact with your neighbors. I’m not one for those streets where all you know about your neighbors is which SUV parks at which house.
On the downside, we are talking EVERY YEAR here. Not just those you are in the mood. Some years you’ll be into it. Some you won’t. What if you get sick and don’t feel like doing the RITZ on the yard? What if you need to travel? Do you feel comfortable traveling and leaving your home for the holidays with all those people coming by? It’s not mandatory here, but there is a certain peer pressure that makes it feel that way. A dark house stands out badly.
Also, traffic on our street is rerouted to be one-way for the two weeks of light-up. Visitors driving through are supposed to keep to the outside so that the residents have an “express lane” to the inside and don’t have to wait 45 minutes to get to their driveway just because they needed to go to the grocery store or got home a little late. Believe me, you will be very pissed off at the first few people who flip you off, cut you off, or roll down their window and scream at you for trying to use the resident’s lane. Sometimes we get to the driveway just ahead of them enough and when we get out of the car we can see the look on their face when they realize what their little holiday season road rage tantrum was just about. You can really see it in the passengers’ expression.
Finally, we are very flattered by all the people that think enough of the hard work we put into the lights and displays, but it’s very creepy having strangers feel welcome to walk all over your yard (sometimes even up onto the porch) to take pictures amongst it. We’re still waiting for the first idiot who wants to sue for tripping over a wire or burning themselves on a spotlight.
Overall, it can really make the season, but in the end it is like what I always say about mowing the yard – I like mowing the yard, I just don’t like HAVING to mow the yard.
