What to expect?
 

I am sitting as a passenger in our motorhome with two Cairn terriers on my lap, typing on my phone as we make the second leg of our two day trip from PA. We should be arriving at our new home in Collier sometime this evening. I am so excited! Just wondering what we can expect since we were here in late October for our closing. Are a lot of homes decorated for the Christmas holidays yet? Do the squares have decorations? I am so curious to see how decorations compare to up north. This will be my first Christmas away from family in PA. I am a little sad but am looking forward to this next adventure in our lives!! :a040:

You'll find many houses decorated or on their way to being decorated. Make the effort to get to Dunkirk in Hadley -- the street decorates and collects food for the local pantries. Wonderful all the way around!

When you get a chance, be sure to contact wendyq -- she has a Cairn, too.

Welcome home!

Congratulations and Welcome! Its so exciting!!! Some neighborhoods get together and decide on a certain decoration (a spiral lighted tree for example) for the whole neighborhood, which looks terrific. Other neighborhoods just decorate as each person wants, and some don't decorate at all-my neighborhood :( There are not too many decorations as of right now but as the holidays approach, more will be put up. I believe each town square has its own unique tree and all the rec centers decorate inside so its fun to go into each and look around. This is my first holiday here as well but I have visited in December before. As you drive around, its fun because some people put lights on their golf carts as well :) Happy Holidays

In early November, the guy who decorates his house in Chatham was out on a ladder, Santa cap on his head, stringing lights on his roof. There's a lot of that going on in the more established neighborhoods. It will be a worth a drive to see those places far, far away from Collier.

Merry CHristmas!!!

Oops, forgot to mention several streets off of Enrique in Santiago and Santo Domingo go all out in decorations.

Thanks for the info. I look forward to traveling around in our new golf cart, looking at the lights and also seeing the rec centers all decorated. I saw a thread about the tree lighting dates in the squares, so that will be fun to do. In October I enjoyed seeing some homes going all out for Halloween! I don't expect much in Collier, because a lot of homes near us are probably unoccupied, but there is an active neighborhood group, so they may surprise us! Not sure how much decorating we will do this year.

Ho Ho Ho!!! Welcome and Merry Christmas to new Villages neighbors!

A "MUST SEE" street is Dunkirk, in the Village of Hadley. It's unbelievable.

Tell me about your motor home. We just sold ours.

The big tree lightings at the different squares are this week. Monday is Spanish Springs, Wednesday is LSL and Friday is Brownwood. There will be entertainment by different groups all night. The Silver Rockettes are performing Wednesday and Friday at 4:00. Come check us out! It's always a lot of fun!

Sounds like a great time! I hope to be there!! Yay, three more hours to go!

Thanks! I will be sure to check it out!
We have a 2011 Entegra Aspire 43 ft. We first planned on full-timing for a year, until we fell in love with TV. Now we plan to travel late spring till fall for a couple years till we decide we have had enough! What did you have and for how long did you RV?

Love the Entegra. We had a 45' Monaco Signature. Traveled for 4 years, found the Villages by accident, sold the m/h and bought a home in TV. I still miss it
once in awhile. Did you ever get out to Wyoming?

Hi Amy!! We are also past residents of PA...between Reading & Morgantown. Anyway, I still miss family, but they really do come to visit and I find myself going back to PA 3-4 times a year to visit our daughter and my mom who just had her 90th birthday. (refuses to move here, duh). We have absolutely no regrets about moving here, and do not miss PA. It is so interesting that you have the Cairns...we did also.
The Christmas lights are really neat...some people go crazy decorating and most definitely we all appreciate the beautiful shows that they produce.
...and YES...this is a new adventure in life!

I cannot imagine how excited you must be!
Congrats and safe trip.
Riding with 2 adorable dogs in your lap on your
way to T.V. - does life get better then that?

Go for it!
 

I wondered the same thing about decorating as you are wondering. I had no idea if people decorated a little, a lot or not at all. You will find that many people go all out for Christmas here in The Villages. I thought everyone decorated a lot up North but they decorate just as much here. Some neighborhoods decorate more than others but I find that a lot of people put up at lest some type of decorations and lights. It's lots of fun to go out on your golf cart and look at all of the lights. Take on the sights and sounds, and have a Merry Christmas!