We’re moving into what is my favorite time of year–the fall. It gives those of us in the deep south a much-needed break from the oppressive summer heat, and hints at all of the holiday fun just around the corner.
I was fortunate enough to get some work done in my front yard last week. We put in some beautiful new camellias, and repainted the concrete containers on our front steps, then replanted them with great flowers and greenery. So after church today, I made a trip to Lowe’s to get a new spray nozzle for the hose by the front steps. My husband is nervous that I will, once again, commit horticultural homicide through water deprivation. To calm his fears, I have pledged to water like a woman possessed.
While in Lowe’s, I noticed that the Christmas decor is out, and I couldn’t resist walking through to see if there was anything new that my home would just be begging for come December. Most of it was the usual fare: the artificial trees (I’m a real tree girl, love the smell), lights galore and various shiny bric-a-brac. Then I rounded the corner and discovered the ever-growing selection of JUMBO SIZED INFLATABLE LAWN DISPLAYS.
GOOD NEWS! In addition to the typical inflatable snowmen, inflatable Santas and his necessary inflatable reindeer, inflatable trees and inflatable gingerbread men, you can now purchase AN INFLATABLE STABLE COMPLETE WITH INFLATABLE MARY, JOSEPH, AND BABY JESUS. Uh-huh. Yeah. You sure can.
As I stood there in the aisle, watching Joseph’s beard undulating with the strength of his air-pump motor, I was forced to ask, “Should the deity, God made flesh, be made…inflatable?” It left me a little unsettled, I must say. And I know that you could reason that if we’re going to deck the halls (or the yard, in this case) then we should do it with things that celebrate the true meaning of the holiday. I get that. I just think that for me, and inflatable Jesus whirring away in my front yard doesn’t communicate exactly what I want to say about the greatest gift mankind has ever known. Something about it just doesn’t spell out “awe and reverence.”
Oh, let’s be honest. I don’t want ANYTHING inflatable and whirring in my front yard. I just feel even more this way toward the Holy Family. So am I a snob, or a believer who is very sensitive to casual portrayals of Christ? Even I can’t answer that…
So go for the inflatable tree instead. I won’t love it, but I won’t hate it, if it makes you happy. And I know how all of you desire my approval of your expressions of Christmas joy…
Living to Tell About It 
12 comments
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October 6, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Walter Hill
Dana – I have a sister-in-law who LOVES inflatables. I mean LOVES them. She has had them over the years for NUMEROUS ocasions. It is a running joke in our family. (Except we call them blow-ups instead of inflatables.) She has spent so much money on buying different ones over the years that with the same amount of money Melanie and I could take an awesome vacation. We are going there after Christmas so I am anxious to see if she has an inflatable Nativity. It won’t surprise me at all if she does. And if she does, she will have every part of the Nativity. It will take up the entire front yard. I will take pictures for sure.
October 6, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Lori
PLEASE PLEASE bring your children over to my neighborhood. There is a 6 foot inflated Halloween pumpkin in my neighbors yard…..you cannot miss it. He’s also illuminated at night.
October 6, 2008 at 8:54 pm
andi
What happened to wreaths?
Pretty bows.
Garland.
Simple, yet elegant.
Ughhhhh…
October 7, 2008 at 2:15 am
Wendy
The only reason I would buy an inflatable nativity scene would be to sneak over to Birmingham in the middle of the night and set it up in
Marcie’s yard!!! Don’t she come across as an “inflatable” kind of gal? (When she reads this, I’m dead meat.)
October 7, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Marcie Haynie
I would never put anything inflatable in my yard!! Yes Wendy I have read this. I am an inflatable (any kind of inflatable) snob!!!
October 8, 2008 at 6:05 am
The Bloggers Brother
Hey Sister. Can I get a mulligan on my subscription to your blog. You see at first I thought these odd little colored squares that look like tiny navaho blankets were random and then I realized they were permanantly assigned to us and I got a pink one. A PINK ONE! Why does Marcie Haynie get a blue one?
October 8, 2008 at 6:08 am
The Bloggers Brother
The one thing I will say about inflatables…and I am neutral on the subject…is that you seem to see a lot of those University of Alabama “Big Al” inflatables in trailer parks.
October 9, 2008 at 2:21 am
Melanie Hill
Dana, Walter is totally right about our sister-in-law. Also, last October we went to SC to my nephews wedding. On the way back about 100 miles from Myrtle Beach we passed a house and their was a big plastic Jesus in the front yard! Kelli, the girls and my parents were following us and we all nearly wrecked trying to get a good glimpse of Jesus. We passed a church a few miles down the road and just felt sorry for the attendees because we knew Jesus wasn’t there…. he was twenty miles back lingering in a front yard!!!
October 9, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Carolyn
I’m with you, Dana! An inflatable nativity is just too, too, too commercially obvious. I fear we’re already pushing the ‘graven image’ thing to the max already with our crosses, angels, and other physical relics. I think He is more pleased with us when we celebrate His birth with ‘visiting the widows and orphans in their afflictions.’
Bloggers Brother..I can see you as a ‘pink’ personality. You are the cuddly type (ha).
Wendy, you haven’t changed a bit! You are still the mischievous, spirited, fun-loving girl you always were. Never loose that part of you.
October 10, 2008 at 3:26 am
Robyn
GO READ THIS! http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/10/418-throwing-rocks-at-squirrels.html
I think this guy might’ve been an ADPi. LOL!!
By the way, if you haven’t read this guy’s blog, you have to read it. He is absolutely hilarious. Take what he says in pure jest – he has had people tell him he’s sacrilegious, but he’s not. He’s an amazing Christian guy who will crack you up.
October 10, 2008 at 4:45 am
Ginny
I was going to put that inflatable nativity scene on TOP of my house this year! So much for that idea! Hee! Hee! The house right across from First Baptist Church is the INFLATABLE HOUSE WINNER OF THE YEAR. They’ve got pumpkins, turkeys, bunnies, Big Al (Oh, I should have not mentioned him! It’s not his fault!), etc.
AMAZING!!!!!!!
October 15, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Tonja Owens
Just another reader who totally agrees with you! I think those inflatables are ‘taking the easy way out’ when it comes to decorating! How much trouble is it to open a box and plug in a giant bag of air? Heaven forbid…I can’t imagine them doing a nativity now!