Ticked Off at your Neighbor’s Holiday Decorations? this guy is…

December 22nd, 2010. By LucyC

Share the joy—spread the love—it’s Christmas! But please don’t upset your neighbors in the process. Sounds like good advice right? But where do you draw the line in the snow—or in this case—the lights—the hundreds of feet of lights, oh yes and the singing Santa?

While some of us prefer to plod on quietly, gingerly displaying sparkly balls and badly wrapped presents in the hope that we can just get through the season without too much upset to our normal routines, some folks take the opposite approach—decking the halls with anything and everything that glows, winks, spins, warbles and sings— you know—Santa’s landing pad coming to a lawn near you…

Well, Jill Patella, who lives in Union Beach, NJ, is a bona fide Christmas enthusiast. And from the sounds of it, she has all the gear with which to deck those halls, and apparently the toilet (she displays three trees and a special bathroom with a decorated toilet in case Santa drank too much milk at the last place).

And, she is the proud owner of one 6 foot singing Santa who can really belt it out, according to her neighbor across the street, Mark Dittman. “It’s just all day and night,” Mark Dittman told NBC New York, which is actually running a story on the situation. Dittman, who lives across the street from Patella, says his living room feels like Santa’s workshop (obviously not a unionized workshop).

Not surprisingly, Patella thinks her neighbor is the embodiment of Scrooge. “Get in the Christmas spirit, find some Christmas spirit,” Patella told NBC New York.

To top it off, her singing Santa was given to her by her husband—the last gift he gave her before he died. So, it has special sentimental value.

“He reminds us of good memories,” Patella said. Terrific. That’ll make negotiations easier.

As you might expect, experts in these types of situations have been called in. The police. And they’ve cited Patella for her singing Santa—so it’s official, he really is too loud.

But Patella’s going to court to fight it, stating that Santa is not moving. At least until Christmas is over. “I’ll fight for my Santa. I have the right,” she said. And she’s found herself a lawyer who is looking into the matter. Umm. “I don’t know what this about. I don’t think this about a Santa Claus sitting on the front porch,” Patella said. No? Does this happen at any other time of the year?

As for Dittman, he feels badly that the situation has escalated to this level. “We’ve asked her numerous times to turn it down, so we had no choice but to call the police on the matter,” he said. And in the Christmas spirit, he has offered to pay Patella’s ticket. One condition though—Santa must be silenced.

With any luck this whole thing could be over by Easter. If all else fails, maybe Dittman could find an angel that sings “Silent Night.”

In any event, here’s to Peace on Earth and good will towards men, and neighbors.

Merry Christmas one and all!

Tags: Christmas decorations, Neighbor dispute, Santa

This was posted on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 at 9:21 am and is filed under Lex Levity . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.