Toronto Star Classroom Connection

All decked out

Go full Griswold and decorate your car this season

RICHARD C ROUSE

For car lovers, Christmas decorating doesn’t have to stop with hanging ornaments on the tree or attaching stockings to the fireplace.

That’s the philosophy espoused by Jen Vasquez, of Lindsay, Ont. Each holiday season, Vasquez decorates her car with festive ornaments. She’s also the administrator of an

Instagram group for Preludes and other Honda lovers in the GTA called The Ludatics.

“My parents got me really into Christmas lights when I was two years old,” said Vasquez. “They would put them in my room high up, so I couldn’t reach them, but I loved looking at them. I associated them with the feelings of cheerfulness and festivities. I like doing vehicle modifications so, this is a way of combining the two things that make me feel happy.”

Five years ago, Vasquez linked her love of the Christmas decorations and cars and began decking out her Honda Civic for the holidays.

“I decorate my Preludes, but I used to put reindeer ears on the Civic,” said Vasquez. “I only stopped because I started getting bullied by trucks. I think they thought, ‘Oh look, a girl driving a dressed-up car. Let’s move it out of the way.’ I didn’t really have a fun time with that.”

But even Scrooge-y truck drivers didn’t crush Vasquez’s holiday spirit. Instead of parading around on Ontario’s highways in her Christmas-themed car, Vasquez moved to social media, parking her, and her husband’s, festively festooned Preludes close to home, and spreading the holiday cheer via Instagram.

“I thought, ‘What if my husband and I decorated our cars in the driveway? Deck them out completely, do the photo shoot and let the neighbourhood see them?’” she said. “We line the windshield and the whole bottom of the car, from bumper to bumper, with Christmas lights. I find using LEDs are brighter. I also hang garlands and tinsel around the front and we line the side of the driveway with large candy canes, like a backdrop.”

Vasquez says the intent is to spread holiday cheer. “The times have gotten a little dark lately, a little stressful and challenging. We like to make people smile.”

Vasquez said she and her husband made the decision to keep the cars parked in the driveway. “I’m hesitant about taking them on the road because I don’t know what the police would do.”

Police Constable Sean Shapiro of the Toronto Traffic Safety Programs Unit of Traffic Operations said there could be problems driving a fully decked out car on the road. “There are regulations as to what you can project in terms of lighting and flashing lights,” said Shapiro, who also delivers traffic advice on the popular @TrafficServices TikTok account. “Based on how you’re decorating [the car], it could obscure the driver’s vision. I’ve seen people put Christmas lights inside their windows. In the front is more of an issue than in the back, but if it’s interfering with someone’s ability to safely operate their motor vehicle it’s going to draw not only the attention of police but the potential for charges.”

Shapiro said he has seen several decked-out cars, but none that drew enough attention to result in charges. “And quite frankly,” he said, “I think that if they’re painting within the lines — even if they’re touching the lines — in the spirit of the holidays, I think that many officers would be very understanding.”

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2022-11-26T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-11-26T08:00:00.0000000Z

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