History Main / OverthetopChristmasDecorations

This is a staple of most {{Christmas episode}}s, {{Christmas special}}s and Christmas movies. It's very often PlayedForLaughs on {{sitcom}}s and in WesternAnimation.

How to show that people feel really festive and in the mood for some serious Christmas celebrating? Why, decorate their house, of course, and apparently, more is better when it comes to decorating a household for Christmas in fictionland.

Characters light up their house from the bottom to the roof, the yard/garden included; decorate and/or illuminate their door and windows; have the biggest, finest tree; fill all their rooms with [[LongList Christmas wreaths, candles, garlands, tinsel, wrapped-up gifts, stockings, cards, bells, Nativity scenes]], [[OverlyLongGag Santas, reindeer figures, angels, snowmen, snow flakes, holly, mistletoe, candy canes, peppermints, cookies, gingerbread, gingerbread houses]] and more. Everything is very bright and very big. One popular colour combination is red and green, often with silver or gold, and there are lots of lights everywhere. AbsurdlyBrightLight and ChristmasLightChaos might be employed for extra comedy.

Characters light up their houses from the bottom up to the roof (the yard/garden included), decorate and/or illuminate their door and windows; have the biggest, finest tree; fill all their rooms with [[LongList Christmas wreaths, candles, garlands, tinsel, wrapped-up gifts, stockings, cards, bells, Nativity scenes]], [[OverlyLongGag Santas, reindeer figures, angels, snowmen, snow flakes, holly, mistletoe, candy canes, peppermints, cookies, gingerbread, gingerbread houses]] and more. Everything is very bright and very big. One popular colour combination is red and green, often with silver or gold, and there are lots of lights everywhere. AbsurdlyBrightLight and ChristmasLightChaos might be employed for extra comedy.

* A {{Advertising/GEICO}} ad from 2017 shows a man telling his neighbor across the street that he just switched to GEICO and saved money on his homeowners insurance. The shot alternates back and forth between his house and his neighbors as they both decorate for Christmas. Every time the first man's house is shown his Christmas lights are progressively fancier and the commercial ends on a shot of an astronaut looking down at the Earth and seeing a multi colored twinkle coming from the man's house and remarks "Houston, are you seeing this?"

* A ''Advertising/GEICO'' ad from 2017 shows a man telling his neighbor across the street that he just switched to GEICO and saved money on his homeowners insurance. The shot alternates back and forth between his house and his neighbors as they both decorate for Christmas. Every time the first man's house is shown his Christmas lights are progressively fancier and the commercial ends on a shot of an astronaut looking down at the Earth and seeing a multi colored twinkle coming from the man's house and remarks "Houston, are you seeing this?"

* A Advertising/GEICO ad from 2017 shows a man telling his neighbor across the street that he just switched to GEICO and saved money on his homeowners insurance. The shot alternates back and forth between his house and his neighbors as they both decorate for Christmas. Every time the first man's house is shown his Christmas lights are progressively fancier and the commercial ends on a shot of an astronaut looking down at the Earth and seeing a multi colored twinkle coming from the man's house and remarks "Houston, are you seeing this?"

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/ZombieClaus'': The inside of the PlayerCharacter's house has Christmas lights lining the perimiter of walls, door frames, and the area above his fireplace.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MickeysTwiceUponAChristmas'': Minnie warns Mickey not to overdue with the Christmas decorations in his home, which he does. At least until Pluto accidentally destroys it, forcing Mickey to go the simple route.

Characters light up their houses from the bottom up to the roof (the yard/garden included), decorate and/or illuminate their door and windows; have the biggest, finest tree; fill all their rooms with Christmas wreaths, candles, garlands, tinsel, wrapped-up gifts, stockings, cards, bells, Nativity scenes, [[OverlyLongGag Santas, reindeer figures, angels, snowmen, snow flakes, holly, mistletoe, candy canes, peppermints, cookies, gingerbread, etc]]. Everything is very bright and very big. One popular colour combination is red and green, often with silver or gold, and there are lots of lights everywhere. AbsurdlyBrightLight and ChristmasLightChaos might be employed for extra comedy.

Characters will light up their houses from the bottom up to the roof (the yard/garden included), decorate and/or illuminate their door and windows; have the biggest, finest tree; fill all their rooms with Christmas wreaths, candles, garlands, tinsel, wrapped-up gifts, stockings, cards, bells, Nativity scenes, [[OverlyLongGag Santas, reindeer figures, angels, snowmen, snow flakes, holly, mistletoe, candy canes, peppermints, cookies, gingerbread, etc]]. Everything will be very bright and very big. One popular colour combination is red and green, often with silver or gold, and there are lots of lights everywhere. AbsurdlyBrightLight and ChristmasLightChaos might be employed for extra comedy.

Often, there will be a contest for the best decorated house, and it's a matter of honour to try one's best to win. In some cases, this might be related to ConspicuousConsumption and showing off. It might be pointed out that more is not always better and that this kind of decorating can be tacky.

* AgentScully's flat in episode "Beyond the Sea" of ''Series/TheXFiles'' is full of Christmas decorations, which is kind of over-the-top, especially considering she's a single career-oriented woman. She has her parents visiting and her father comments on it.
-->'''Scully's father:''' Are you going to leave this up all year?
-->'''Scully:''' Yup. All year. Since you always made us take the Christmas tree down the day after Christmas, I'm making up for lost time.
* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Lily and Marshall are big fans of Christmas and their and Ted's apartment is owerblown with lights and other dreamy winter wonderland decorations. It's taken UpToEleven when Lily gets angry with Ted and takes all the stuff to her tiny crappy apartment.

* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'': In season 7, Lorelai and Rory celebrate Christmas in January because Rory spent the actual Christmas in London with her boyfriend Logan. They insist on a Christmas tree in every room and they decorate all their downstair rooms with garlands. Christopher gets enormous stockings for the whole family, too.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* In the parent centric subplot of ''Unaccompanied Minors'', we see Aunt Judy Davenport's house is decked out in a downright ludicrous amount of decorations, inside and outside, and she implies that her christmas decorating somehow goes beyond ''that''. There is even an inflating Santa in a chimney with motion sensors on the lawn that scares the bejeezus out of anybody walking by.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Agent Scully's flat in episode "Beyond the Sea" of ''Series/TheXFiles'' is full of Christmas decorations, which is kind of over-the-top, especially considering she's a single career-oriented woman. She has her parents visiting and her father comments on it.

Characters will light up their houses from the bottom up to the roof (the yard/garden included), decorate and/or illuminate their door and windows; have the biggest, finest tree; fill all their rooms with Christmas wreaths, candles, garlands, tinsel, wrapped-up gifts, stockings, cards, bells, Nativity scenes, [[OverlyLongGag Santas, reindeer figures, angels, snowmen, snow flakes, holly, mistletoe, candy canes, peppermints, cookies, gingerbread, etc]]. Everything will be very bright and very big. One popular colour combination is red and green, often with silver or gold, and there are lots of lights everywhere. AbsurdlyBrightLight might be employed for extra comedy.

This is a staple of most {{Christmas episode}}s, {{Christmas special}}s and Christmas movies. It's very often PlayedForLaughs on {{sitcom}}s and in WesternAnimation, and can lead to ChristmasLightChaos.

This is a staple of most {{Christmas episode}}s, {{Christmas special}}s and Christmas movies. It's very often PlayedForLaughs on {{sitcom}}s and in WesternAnimation.

[[folder: Film - Animated ]]

[[folder: Film - Live Action ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In the childrens' picture book ''The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza'', Mr. Merriweather originally intended to celebrate Christmas by decorating his house with a simple string of Christmas lights around the front window. However, when his neighbor, Mr. Clack, shows off his own decorated house with more than one string of lights, Mr. Merriweather decides to add more decorations to his own house. At this point, he gets carried away with the decorations, adding bigger and more elaborate displays until [[spoiler:it ends up taking up the electrical power of the city, leading to a mob led by Mr. Clack to tear the decorations down during Christmas Eve. While Mr. Merriweather is shocked when he discovers the destruction on Christmas morning, it is then that he realizes that [[AnAesop fancy displays are not what Christmas is about]]]].

[[folder: Live-action TV ]]

[[folder: Stand-up and Recorded Comedy ]]

[[folder: Theater ]]

* In the ''Theatre/GreaterTuna'' sequel ''A Tuna Christmas'', there's a three-way battle for Tuna's best Christmas yard display between Vera, whose display includes a nativity scene with live sheep, Santa Claus, Music/BingCrosby, [[WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the Grinch]], and [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking Natalie]] [[Creator/NatalieWood Wood]], Didi Snaveley's pie pan Christmas tree lit by surplus military floodlights that causes retina damage if looked at for too long, and Helen and Ineda's 'All I Want for Christmas': two life-sized cowboy mannequins stuffed inside gift sacks. [[spoiler: Helen and Ineda win.]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* In the childrens' picture book ''The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza'', Mr. Merriweather originally intended to celebrate Christmas by decorating his house with a simple string of Christmas lights around the front window. However, when his neighbor, Mr. Clack, shows off his own decorated house with more than one string of lights, Mr. Merriweather decides to add more decorations to his own house. At this point, he gets carried away with the decorations, adding bigger and more elaborate displays until [[spoiler:it ends up taking up the electrical power of the city, leading to a mob led by Mr. Clack to tear the decorations down during Christmas Eve. While Mr. Merriweather is shocked when he discovers the destruction on Christmas morning, it is then that he realizes that [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped fancy displays are not what Christmas is about]]]].

* Subverted: The competition tendency among neighbors can cause some neighborhoods or developments to put up such amazing light displays that it causes traffic and safety problems, resulting in the police either restricting the Christmas light displays or banning them altogether.

* ''Series/AllyMcBeal'': Ally loves Christmas, but her boyfriend Larry's not too keen. Ally pesters him to decorate his office a bit and he gets piles and piles of illuminated Christmas stuff and mechanized reindeer. We later find out he doesn't like Chistmas and other holidays because he has a small son, and Larry misses him even more during holidays.

* GoofTroop shows that Goofy clearly went to the [[Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation Clark Griswold]] school of decking the house.

* The ''WesternAnmation/KimPossible'' ChristmasEpisode begins with the lighting of the decorations at Kim's house, played up with dramatic donning of protective goggles and flipping a BigElectricSwitch as if they're activating some mad-science experiment. The lights are so overwhelming that Ron is temporarily blinded as he arrives, and the Tweebs mention that they rerouted the Middleton power grid so they wouldn't [[BigBlackout overload it]] like they did last time.

* GoofTroop shows that Goofy clearly went to the [[NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation Clark Griswold]] school of decking the house.

* In the ''Theatre/GreaterTuna'' sequel ''A Tuna Christmas'', there's a three-way battle for Tuna's best Christmas yard display between Vera, whose display includes a nativity scene with live sheep, Santa Claus, BingCrosby, [[WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the Grinch]], and [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking Natalie]] [[Creator/NatalieWood Wood]], Didi Snaveley's pie pan Christmas tree lit by surplus military floodlights that causes retina damage if looked at for too long, and Helen and Ineda's 'All I Want for Christmas': two life-sized cowboy mannequins stuffed inside gift sacks. [[spoiler: Helen and Ineda win.]]