December 20, 2012

In this Tuesday, Dec. 2012 photo, colorful Christmas figures fill the yard of Michael Goldsmith who has decorated his Montgomery, Ala., home and yard for over thirty years before dying of cancer earlier this year. For 34 years Goldsmith filled his yard with hundreds of Christmas decorations. Friends memorialized him this year by continuing the lighting display at his house.

In this Tuesday, Dec. 2012 photo, colorful Christmas figures fill the yard of Michael Goldsmith who has decorated his Montgomery, Ala., home and yard for over thirty years before dying of cancer earlier this year. For 34 years Goldsmith filled his yard with hundreds of Christmas decorations. Friends memorialized him this year by continuing the lighting display at his house.

In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 photo, thousands of colorful lights and decorations fill the yard of this Montgomery, Ala., home.

Unable to compete with her neighbor, Eric Cyr, Kristina Green opted to decorate her home, left, with a 450-light “Ditto” sign and an arrow pointing to Cyr’s 20,000-light Christmas display, as shown Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 in Maricopa, Ariz.

In this Dec. 10, 2012 photo, people walk past holiday decorations on homes on 34th Street in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore. Residents on the block decorate their rowhouses with over-the-top lights and decorations in the annual tradition known locally as the “Miracle on 34th Street.”

In this Dec. 10, 2012 photo, ornaments made from Old Bay seasoning containers decorate a home on 34th Street in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore. Residents on the block decorate their rowhouses with over-the-top lights and decorations in the annual tradition known locally as the “Miracle on 34th Street.”

In this Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 photo holiday lights from a bridge are reflected in the canal waters in the Venice section of Los Angeles.

In this Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 photo, Christmas lights decorate a home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.

This Dec. 12, 2012 photo shows the holiday lighting display at the home of Norm and Michele Rados in Olmsted Township, Ohio. Rados said it takes four to five weekends of work to finish his annual holiday display leading up to the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 photo, visitors take photos in front of homes decorated with thousands of holiday lights in Richmond, Va.

In this photo taken Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, various holiday figures and colored lights fill the yard of a home on Hawks Nest Court in Cary, N.C.

In this photo taken Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012 a firehouse along the Embarcadero is lit up with Christmas lights in San Francisco. In the background is the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. San Francisco’s fireboats are also housed at the station.

In this Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 photo, a woman walks along Natal Circle viewing Christmas lights in Gilbert, Ariz.

Christmas lights stretch across the street on Natal Circle Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 in Gilbert, Ariz.

In this Dec. 10, 2012 photo, Louise Beacham carries a ladder after putting up a Christmas wreath on the Windandsea Surf Shack on Windandsea Beach in San Diego. Originally constructed in the 1940s, the shack is a local landmark on this famous surfing beach.