Our little neighborhood on North Lotus Drive has a Christmas tradition that has now spanned 20 years. The neighborhood ornament exchange began in 2002 and was first held at Jan & Steve’s home. More of a late-night Christmas party, the ticket to entry was bring a gift ornament, a food dish to share, and what you like to drink. Ornaments have always been blind-traded by a type of Chinese auction game where we draw numbers and each gets to selectivly swap an ornament with the other. It’s comically brutal but always fun. In recent years, Karen brought a unique spin to the game by reading a Christmas story that has everyone moving gifts back and forth in a chaotic but hilarious circle.
Though my nextdoor neighbor Gary is perhaps the longest resident, having grown up here; many of us are relative new comers. Karen raised her kids here; at one time her parents lived across the street from Greg & I. Greg and I bought our home in 2000.
It’s a fun trip through time seeing kids we knew as toddlers now having conversations over which college they will be attending. New families have joined us, others have left to start new chapters in their lives – but the underlying vibe still continues: We may argue, we may laugh, we may even have tiffs. But we all agree that we want a safe neighborhood to call home. Where neighbors know each other and in our own way we watch out for each other. Maybe it’s our way of holding on to our own childhood and the neighborhoods we grew up in during a different era.
We couldn’t be more diverse in our personalities and even our interests, but when it comes to something affecting the ‘hood’ …we all come together. It’s hard to believe our Christmas ornament tradition has lasted 20 years. To the left (if you’re viewing on a Desktop) are a few of our 2022 photos. Down below there’s a few photos from our very first party in 2002.
