As the days of December are beginning and the weather is getting colder, people all around the country are gearing up for the holiday season. Such preparation for the holidays includes shopping, cooking and most importantly: decorating. The decor of the inside and outside of a house sets the mood for the entire season.

The outside of a house will get the most views from people driving by, so it is of utter importance that a person decorates the outside of their house well. Many people decorate the outside of their house with lights or inflatable snowmen, or stick to traditional white or multicolored lights that hang from the gutters. However, some resort to a new type of holiday decoration: laser lights.

Laser lights are placed in the front yard and use LED lights to project holiday patterns onto a house. I, for one, do not like laser lights for many reasons.

For starters, these laser lights can look overcrowded and be too elaborate for the eye to look at. Some of the patterns have too much going on for the audience to fully enjoy the display. Holiday lights should be elegant and classic, not chaotic and tacky.

Even if the pattern is simple and classy, the laser lights can cause issues with surrounding neighbors. If the light is not positioned correctly, then the lasers could reach into a neighbors’ bedroom window and prevent them from sleeping. This is very inconsiderate and rude to neighbors.

The holidays are supposed to be a time of kindness and gratitude; laser lights could be inconsiderate and unkind, the exact opposite of the holiday season behavior.  

Another reason deals with the amount of effort put into decorating. The holiday season is about putting forth extra effort and putting your entire heart into the little details of the season to make it perfect. The decoration of a house should represent that hard work and cheer.

Laser lights require nothing of the person setting them up besides placing a stick into the ground and turning the lights on. Once again, laser lights are ignoring the holiday standards of putting in the extra effort.

A highly advertised feature of laser lights is that they have interchangeable patterns that can be used during other holidays such as Easter, the Fourth of July, Halloween and even a birthday. However, a person probably does not need a light display for any other holiday besides Christmas. Holiday lights are specific to the holiday season and are meant to only be on display during winter.

If you display lights during Easter or Halloween or any other time of the year, then it ruins the value of holiday lights and the lights will not be as magical as they typically are during Christmas.

Therefore, these laser lights are lazy, tacky and degrade Christmas decorations. People should stick to traditional holiday lights.