Christmas cheer in Maspeth

From the NY Times:

No guidebook mentions the Christmas lights in Maspeth, Queens. And unless you have a reason to stroll through the neighborhood, you may never notice that what looks like one big, brightly festooned house on 60th Road by 69th Street is, in fact, four homes — turn-of-the-century brick bungalows united by common walls and illuminated snowflakes.

On this little block, most of the families still carry Italian surnames — Cornetta, Gammone, Simonetti — and have been around for decades, though there are a few newcomers: The Olszowkas, Polish immigrants, moved in five years ago.

Little else has changed. Hands are still calloused and breadwinners’ collars are still decidedly blue. Sidewalk potluck parties continue to be a summer staple. And right after Thanksgiving, it’s about neighbor helping neighbor hang ornaments and lights — and candy canes, nutcrackers, sleighs, snowmen, Nativity scenes — along railings, on awnings and around the long pole that holds an American flag, where tiny bulbs gleam in red, white and blue. The lights come on at 4:30 p.m., accompanied by Christmas carols bellowing from speakers tucked behind a battalion of toy soldiers.