Merry + Bright
/By Members of the Judging Committee, age 13 and 9
There were so many great houses this year (click here for pictures)! We loved walking up and down the streets and seeing how many people had decorated. It was much more than we have ever seen in Burleith and was so hard to choose a winner. The official night of the judging was December 20th, but of course we had been seeing many of the decorations since early December. To help us decide what to look for before heading out, we created six categories which were lights, indoor decor (Christmas trees in windows), levels, use of yard, cohesiveness, and greenery. I’m not sure any of these helped that much because all scores were so close and it still took us three days to decide the winners! From trees and chimneys wrapped in lights to wreaths and garlands and lawn props, we had a little bit of everything. We hope you have had a chance to look around and see all these wonderful houses.
Winners…3…2…1!
Tied for third place are 1906 37th Street and 1704 35th. 1906 37th lined their grass with lights and had large Nutcrackers at the front next to piles of lit up presents. They also had a fun Santa wreath on their door and both of their two levels were decorated completely which really was cool to the kids. 1704 35th street also was spectacular from light up candy canes and lots of lights to projected green speckled lights over their whole house. It also had lots of wreaths and bows. The house was also decorated on all floors with candles in each window on their second floor. Both these houses were just amazing.
Second place is 3636 S Street. 3636 S Street was very bright and wonderful to see from every angle at the corner of 37th and S. Lights were wrapped on trees and bushes all over the property, and there were candles in every window. Garlands lined the fence and a lit Christmas tree was visible through the window. Many pedestrians and drivers were slowing to take a look at the display. They had almost every tree in their yard covered – like in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation!
First place was so hard to decide on, but 3712 T Street stood out to all of us. They went all the way to not just wrapping their house in lights but their chimney as well. They also had snowflakes projected onto the front of their house to make it look like a Christmas wonderland. The front yard was covered in fun beautiful lights. All of their levels were fully decked out with wreaths on each window and their whole roof was outlined with lights. Jolly Saint Nick won’t be able to miss it!
Honorable Mentions: Over 30 Burleith homes were scoring-worthy this year! While we can’t list everyone here, we wanted to provide a special mention to the following (in order of our route) and hope they make it to the winners’ circle next year!
3602 Whitehaven – stockings in the windows, wreaths, garlands and lights around the door an in the bushes!
1917 35th Place – lights outlining the house and porch, reindeers, sled, wreaths really made the most of space available!
3514 T Street – a yard full of colorful lights and candy canes!
3532 T Street – lights all around the yard and icicles dripping from the tree!
3548 T Street – a colorfully lit up yard, red bows on the fence, and line of sight to a beautiful tree inside!
3615 and 3617 T Street – neighbors working together to create dazzling display – modern lights and reindeer on the right (and lighting in the back yard too!) and an amazing multilevel classic holiday home on the left!
3636 T Street – an extra large lit-up Santa welcoming all down the main street of Burleith!
1933 38th Street – icicle lights galore!
3817 T Street – three blow-ups and wintery blue lights create a welcoming front yard scene!
1939 39th Street – an intricately lit tree lights up a darker street and illuminates the classic wreaths on each window and door!
3603 S Street – wow, extensive ladder work was needed to create this full home outline from the peak of the roofline and all windows!
3538 S Street – colorful lights throughout the front yard and line of sight to a great tree inside!
3509 S Street – found a tricky way to run lights up and out to a tree in the tree box
1810 35th Street – beautiful classically decorated house was wonderful during the day with Santa on the balcony, reindeer in the yard, and garlands and wreaths all along the fence! (Wish there were lights for evening judging!)
1724 35th Street – overflowing winter window boxes accented by a fully lit yard! Duke Ellington School of the Arts – thank you for decorating this amazing school and lighting up an extra large tree!
3701 R Street – corner homer with a holiday train blow up on one side and classing wreaths and light on the other!
3723 Reservoir – the best tree lighting in the neighborhood, wreath on the door, and line of sight to the tree inside!
1900 37th Street – a snowman and penguin and extensive lighting of the side fence!
1923 37th Street – full front yard lighting and a message of JOY on display!
1928 37th Street – classic and beautiful front porch in icicle lights! Thank you all for bringing light and joy to these dark evenings!