Happy Birt Jesus

December 23, 2017 2:17 PM

"Christmas in America is a 7-year unvarnished, photographic exploration of the nation’s largest holiday. It's an investigation to discover and reveal what compels so many to devote thousands of hours to hanging lights, to carving and painting figurines, to building miniature villages, to converting their homes, yards, garages, and cars into monuments to merriness." More photos here on photographer Jesse Rieser's website, where the photos are also downloadable.
posted by capricorn (13 comments total)

So very unsurprised, and a little proud/shamed that so many of these are in Texas. (is there a German word for simultaneous pride and shame?).

I love Christmas decorations, because I see it as the one time many straightlaced people give themselves license to create art, and so much of it is delightfully bizarre. Yes, cliched, yes, sappy, yes commercial and wasteful as fuck, but sometimes the sheer strangeness reaches the level of sublime.

For those of you in North Texas area, he is apparently showing some of his work in Irving through early January.
posted by emjaybee at 3:11 PM on December 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Years ago, I used to pass a home-made xmas sign by the highway, that spelled out "GOODWILL TO ALL". At one point one the last L went out, so for a while it read "GOODWILL TO AL" .
posted by carter at 3:21 PM on December 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

So very unsurprised, and a little proud/shamed that so many of these are in Texas.

I think it's ironic given that if you start with the nativity and take away the illegal immigrants and anchor babies all you're left with is a jackass and some sheep.
posted by Talez at 3:28 PM on December 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

The true meaning of Christmas is discovering the true meaning of Christmas.
posted by signal at 5:39 PM on December 23, 2017

Wasn’t there a Community episode about that?
posted by Talez at 5:49 PM on December 23, 2017

I see it as the one time many straightlaced people give themselves license to create art

I had never thought of it this way, but you're totally right.

Christmas makes me intensely sad and frustrated, for all the usual reasons. But thinking of it in this way makes it slightly more bearable, so thank you.
posted by Hey Dean Yeager! at 7:40 PM on December 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

I was surprised to find a photo on Rieser's site of something I've recently seen - Robolights, in Palm Springs. It belongs in a category all of its own.
posted by 41swans at 8:25 PM on December 23, 2017

"Behind The Scenes" gives me anxiety
posted by thelonius at 2:09 AM on December 24, 2017

Looks like Christmas in Texas and Arizona, not "America".
posted by Gnella at 4:03 AM on December 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Come to NJ and Bayside, Brooklyn for true excess in Christmas lights and decorations. There are even tours.
posted by mermayd at 5:46 AM on December 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's interesting to contrast these with the Los Angeles area historical photos in the post below. Many of those were public, but plenty weren't and they were just as over the top. Dramatic Christmas decorations must exist in the space between suburban/small town affluence and (generally) family-ness (meaning small children) that California was crushing in the 1930s-1950 (and maybe beyond) but is now Texas and Arizona's wheelhouse.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:56 AM on December 24, 2017

I loved every damn buck ass wild photo.

I hate my government and hell I hate most of the damn country but come Halloween and Christmas y’all alright.
posted by Annika Cicada at 8:09 AM on December 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

mermayd, did you mean Bensonhurst, Brooklyn? Bay Ridge? Because Bayside's in Queens.
posted by DMelanogaster at 4:37 PM on December 24, 2017