Judging is not in the ‘holiday spirit’

It’s the season of giving, the season of brotherly love, the season of peace on earth. Who knew it was also the time of year when one’s social class is judged by their holiday decorations.

In class, we looked at houses around Toronto and judged the social class of the inhabitants based on the year-round decor they had put up. So it really doesn’t come as a surprise that holiday decorations are also indicative of social class.

Interestingly, Nate Burkus recently commented on his show The Nate Burkus Show about how the colours of lights that you put up reflect differently. With houses that have a lot of lights, if the lights are all different colours then the overall look will be jumbled and confused, however if all of the lights are white then it will seem peaceful and calm.

Does this insinuate that others walking past your house might be subconsciously judging your social class based on not just the decorations but even just the colours of the lights? In my opinion, Nate Burkus’ advice suggests that white lights are classier than their coloured counterparts. And I think that the majority of the population would agree that there is a class distinction between a house with minimal holiday decorations and one where the yard is littered with full size reindeer and blow-up snow men.

Take a look at this house I saw in downtown Toronto.

It definitely stood out among its neighbourhood, where most houses had minimal or no decorations.

I think that many people would judge these decorations to be tacky and would make the assumption that the occupants were of lower middle class or working class, much in the same way that we judged the photos of houses in class earlier in the year. It is interesting to consider why we make the association that these plastic decorations and bright multi-coloured lights are stylistically gauche. Is it because the majority of these decorations are made of cheap, plastic material? Is it because they can be bought quite inexpensively at a retail store such as Wal-Mart or Honest Ed’s? Is it because the jumble of ornaments and lights looks cluttered and uncaringly placed? Or is it simply due to the fact that the majority of our society associates a more minimalistic approach to decor to a higher social class, shown through everything from home decor to the plating of food at restaurants?

Whatever the reasoning is behind these societal associations to holiday decor, the fact remains that we continue to judge one another based on material possessions – the idea being broadened from the old saying “you are what you eat” to “you are what you buy”.