# Worst Christmas Decoration
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 30, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337 "2018-11-30T16:09:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/1 "2018-11-30T16:09:28Z")
I just don’t get the appeal of the nutcracker soldier/doll or whatever it is. They’re frightening looking - they should be a Halloween decoration. And they’re ugly! They have weird, fuzzy hair sticking out and usually a bad mustache and/or beard. How did that get to be a Christmas decoration? Was it just from the ballet The Nutcracker? I went to see The Nutcracker years ago (I didn’t know much about it beforehand) and thought to myself as I watched, “Why would the little girl, Clara be so excited to get THAT as a gift?!”
Is there anything that’s a crummier Christmas decoration than a nutcracker?
---
### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/2 "2018-11-30T16:20:37Z")
Any Chia-Pet; especially Xmas ones.
---
### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/3 "2018-11-30T16:24:56Z")
> [@TRC4941](#):
>
> Is there anything that’s a crummier Christmas decoration than a nutcracker?
Elf on the Shelf. Those things are uber-creepy.
---
### Author:  [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/4 "2018-11-30T16:55:53Z")
Caganer. Google it. Not at work though.
---
### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/5 "2018-11-30T17:01:19Z")
And on that note, I’ll admit we have a plush singing Mr. Hankey doll.
---
### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/6 "2018-11-30T17:07:27Z")
Weirdest ornament I’ve seen is the Christmas pickle. No excuses for that will suffice.
---
### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/7 "2018-11-30T17:21:22Z")
> [@RobDog](#):
>
> Caganer. Google it. Not at work though.
Well, thanks for that. I’m always interested in learning more about feces-related holiday traditions. :eek:
---
### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/8 "2018-11-30T17:34:09Z")
Ditto. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/9 "2018-11-30T19:29:41Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#):
>
> And on that note, I’ll admit we have a plush singing Mr. Hankey doll.
I have one of these with the additional pieces; some custom crafted for me by local artists.
[https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images2/1/0616/06/retired-big-sky-carvers-chickentivity\_1\_6b10ccde6deae012e59cb4b332140012.jpg](https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images2/1/0616/06/retired-big-sky-carvers-chickentivity_1_6b10ccde6deae012e59cb4b332140012.jpg)
But I classify it as my best Christmas decoration not my worst. For that I have one of these
But in the interest of full disclosure I keep it on display year-round.
---
### Author:  [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/10 "2018-11-30T19:47:37Z")
Our worst decoration is a plastic rocket that upon the push of a button emits a long series of different electronic rocket-like noises, all of them obnoxiously grating. It was given to my son when he was about 5. Finally, after 20 years, the battery has died.
---
### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/11 "2018-11-30T20:17:30Z")
Those gigantic blow-up santas/snowmen. They seem to exist solely for people who both want to be outrageously garish and tacky, and want to spend the least possible amount of time and effort doing it.
---
### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/12 "2018-11-30T20:26:35Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> Those gigantic blow-up santas/snowmen. They seem to exist solely for people who both want to be outrageously garish and tacky, and want to spend the least possible amount of time and effort doing it.
The house near my kids’ school had a yard full of these. During the drive to school in the morning we’d pass the house, and they were always deflated, spread out on their lawn like a crime scene.
We called it “Christmas carnage”.
---
### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/13 "2018-11-30T21:28:40Z")
> [@TRC4941](#):
>
> Is there anything that’s a crummier Christmas decoration than a nutcracker?
Decades ago, when I rented an apartment in a house, down the street, this family would leave their orange jack-o-lantern trash bags full of leaves out in their yard through Christmas and will into February. So yes, orange jack-o-lantern trash bags are crummier Christmas decorations than nutcrackers.
---
### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/14 "2018-11-30T22:38:12Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> Those gigantic blow-up santas/snowmen. They seem to exist solely for people who both want to be outrageously garish and tacky, and want to spend the least possible amount of time and effort doing it.
Especially that one that stopped traffic.
---
### Author:  [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/15 "2018-11-30T22:50:24Z")
We have a neighbor who decorates his yard with Christmas gnomes every year. They look like regular gnomes with white beards, but they all wear Santa hats. There are gnomes carrying Santa-like bags over their shoulders, gnomes decorating Christmas trees, gnomes hanging stockings on a mantle, gnomes carrying giant candy canes, gnomes on sleds being pulled by reindeer, one gnome handing another gnome a large Christmas gift, gnomes scaling small chimneys with bags of presents, gnomes building snowmen, you name it! The whole scene is nauseating & I’d take nutcrackers any day over gnomes.
---
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2018, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/16 "2018-12-01T00:00:18Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> Those gigantic blow-up santas/snowmen. They seem to exist solely for people who both want to be outrageously garish and tacky, and want to spend the least possible amount of time and effort doing it.
And usually they just lie like a puddle most of the day, since it takes a lot of electricity to keep them inflated.
---
### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2018, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/17 "2018-12-01T18:20:05Z")
One near me is more unusual then bad. He has a vertical pipe that goes up about 30 feet. He then trickles water out of it all the time in freezing weather. This produces a huge freaking Xmas tree shaped mount of ice. On a good year it must weigh 10,000 lbs. At times he has lights on it.
> **[‘Ice Man’ creates 30-foot ice spectacle at his home in North Ridgeville](https://fox8.com/news/ice-man-creates-30-foot-ice-spectacle-at-his-home-in-north-ridgeville/)**
>
> NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio — North Ridgeville has its very own “ice mountain,” and it’s the talk of the town. It’s all compliments of Andy Eck — aka — the R…
---
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2018, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/18 "2018-12-01T19:49:26Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> Those gigantic blow-up santas/snowmen. They seem to exist solely for people who both want to be outrageously garish and tacky, and want to spend the least possible amount of time and effort doing it.
My neighbor has a blowup Santa-and-Rudolph-in-a-helicopter on their roof, and a giant ATAT on their lawn. Lovely - even if it WEREN’T for the unceasing hum of the blowers… ☹
---
### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/19 "2018-12-01T20:08:39Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> One near me is more unusual then bad. He has a vertical pipe that goes up about 30 feet. He then trickles water out of it all the time in freezing weather. This produces a huge freaking Xmas tree shaped mount of ice. On a good year it must weigh 10,000 lbs. At times he has lights on it.
>
> [‘Ice Man’ creates 30-foot ice spectacle at his home in North Ridgeville | Fox 8 Cleveland WJW](https://fox8.com/2018/01/17/ice-man-creates-30-foot-ice-spectacle-at-his-home-in-north-ridgeville/)
This is/was actually pretty neat:
When I lived in Clearwater, FL, area 15-ish years ago, there was a guy who had a big piece of land with a circular driveway. In the middle of this driveway area, he had rigged up some kind of machine–it was snowman shaped–that condensed the moisture in the air around it and made a snowman in the middle of 80[sup]o[/sup] December Florida! He had a sign on the main drag pointing into his property that read “Cold Frosty.” You just _had_ to drive in for a look-see.
Thank you, mister. It was 🆒.
---
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337/20 "2018-12-02T17:22:39Z")
There’s Inflatable Outhouse Santa:
> **[Amazon.com: Gemmy Christmas Inflatable 6 FT Tall Animated LED Lighted Outhouse...](https://www.amazon.com/Gemmy-Airblown-Animated-Santa/dp/B0719441QZ)**
>
> Amazon.com: Gemmy Christmas Inflatable 6 FT Tall Animated LED Lighted Outhouse Santa Outdoor Yard Prop : Patio, Lawn & Garden
If you don’t want one outside, they have the inside versions:
> **[Santa's Outhouse](https://www.amazon.com/Enchanted-Forest-Santas-Outhouse/dp/B0018DN3U2)**
>
> Buy Santa's Outhouse at Amazon. Customer reviews and photos may be available to help you make the right purchase decision!
In traditional Spanish nativity scenes they have a pooping figure, the _caganer_. I think there’s one of these in the nativity at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City:
> **[Caganer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer)**
>
> A Caganer (Catalan pronunciation: \[kəɣəˈne\]) is a figurine depicted in the act of defecation appearing in nativity scenes in Catalonia and neighbouring areas with Catalan culture such as Andorra, Valencia, Balearic Islands, and Northern Catalonia (in southern France). It is most popular and widespread in these areas, but can also be found in other areas of Spain (Murcia), Portugal, and southern Italy (Naples).
> The name "El Caganer" literally means "the pooper". Traditionally, the figurine is dep...
There’s a company that makes modern caganers, and custom ones. You can get Donald TRump:
> **[Donald Trump Caganer by CaganerShop.com](https://www.amazon.com/Donald-Trump-Caganer-by-CaganerShop-com/dp/B01GERTRVK)**
>
> Buy Donald Trump Caganer by CaganerShop.com at Amazon. Customer reviews and photos may be available to help you make the right purchase decision!
Or celebrities:
> **[Caganer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer)**
>
> A Caganer (Catalan pronunciation: \[kəɣəˈne\]) is a figurine depicted in the act of defecation appearing in nativity scenes in Catalonia and neighbouring areas with Catalan culture such as Andorra, Valencia, Balearic Islands, and Northern Catalonia (in southern France). It is most popular and widespread in these areas, but can also be found in other areas of Spain (Murcia), Portugal, and southern Italy (Naples).
> The name "El Caganer" literally means "the pooper". Traditionally, the figurine is dep...
Or ET
> **[Caganer ET](https://caganer.com/en/caganer-et-978)**
>
> Although now it may not be that spectacular, we must recognize that E.T is one of the major milestones in film story. Beginning with the soundtrack and leaving no lovely Drew Barrymore unreached, this story of friendship between an alien and a...
The ultimate self-referential thing would be a Christmas Mr. Hankey _caganer_, but that doesn’t seem to exist. Yet.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-decoration/825337.md?page=2)