Is it just me, or did this Christmas season seem to bring with it an explosion of giant inflatable holiday figures? Is it only in the suburbs where every fourth yard features an eight-foot tall smiling Santa Claus in the center of the front lawn, either lit with a spotlight or surrounded by the more familiar displays of lights wrapped around trees, draped on shrubs or hung from the eaves? On our 15-minute drive to work, there is a Santa-dressed Grinch, a snowman in front of a diner and Santa and Rudolph standing (the deer's on his hind legs) with their arms around one another, waving. Tonight we discovered a Santa lashed to the second-floor window of a house next to the supermarket we visit maybe once a month.

Are lights not enough anymore? The Grinch, snowmen, penguins, various Santas. Connecticut had the most in a small area we saw around New Milford. Last weekend, when we spent 24 hours at my parents' house to help decorate the tree and get some last-minute shopping done, we noticed several more inflatables on the lawns of Monmouth County. (We also passed a fiber-optic white tree that slowly changed from blue lights to white, then blinked back again, but we didn't see any more until passing one in Johnstown last night. I suspect that will be next year's fad.) So I decided to open my eyes to the inflatable Christmas fad and take an informal tally. I've documented a few local instances in northern and central New Jersey, so on the drive out to Johnstown, and then on to Greensburg and back, I kept my eyes peeled on the western Pennsylvania countryside. They're big on Halloween out here west of Harrisburg. Here are the results.

DESTINATION:JOHNSTOWN
DATE:DECEMBER 24, 2003
VEHICLE:MY GRAND AM
SURVEY AREA:MOSTLY PENNSYLVANIA ROUTE 56, FROM BEDFORD TO JOHNSTOWN

2:48 p.m. -- I spot Santa and Rudolph arm-in-arm somewhere around Chestnut Ridge and am reminded of my plan to keep track of such sightings. Conveniently, Casey's in the driver's seat, as she usually is for the second half of this drive out to her dad's. The last hour is off the interstate, and although there are maybe only five turns to make the whole way, it's just easier for her to take the wheel than to remind me where they are. So I reach for my road trip journal and begin taking notes. What makes this project fun (and easy) is that, unlike light displays, inflatable sightings can be made during the day.

We hit The Mountain around 3 p.m. There are two peaks called The Mountain by Casey's family -- this one on 56 between Pleasantville and Ogletown (officially named Allegheny Mountain, over which 56 passes at Babcock Ridge) and Laurel Mountain on 271 between Johnstown and Greensburg. Climbing Allegheny Mountain (it may not actually be called that, since it's one of hundreds of peaks in the Allegheny Mountain range, but that's what the sign says) we ascend into a winter wonderland -- snow on the ground, trees caked in white, the fog enshrouding Babcock Ridge in an ethereal haze not unlike the little halo of light given off by a solitary candle in the night.

3:11 p.m. -- Santa in a sleigh hitched to two reindeer is spotted on a lawn in Windber.

3:14 p.m. -- Up on a hill just off the road in Richland, I spy a giant Santa and a seated teddy bear. Soon, we are in Johnstown, stopping at Sheetz for a Shmuffin (Sheetz' version of the egg McMuffin) and a turkey sandwich, since we figure there won't be much to eat at the house until the party after 6. We are correct in that assumption.

DESTINATION:GREENSBURG
DATE:DECEMBER 25, 2003
VEHICLE:TESSA'S CAR, KARL
SURVEY AREA:THE DRIVE FROM JOHNSTOWN TO GREENSBURG, MOSTLY PA 271 AND THEN US 30

2:55 p.m. -- Driving out of Westmont, I see Santa hanging by a rope from the eaves in front of a picture window. He's holding the rope in his right hand and his sack slung over his left shoulder in his other hand. It's not a huge inflatable lawn decoration, but it is clearly inflatable and a variation on the theme, at least. The fact that he's hanging there, twisting in the wind, was both amusing and eerie. (Footnote: Tessa's car, a white Dodge Neon, is named for Karl Marx. "It's a proletariat car," Casey explained.)

2:59 p.m. -- On the western outskirts of Johnstown (of which Westmont is a section) there's a reindeer holding a candy cane and waving. This one is on the lawn of a house just before the Pickin' Chicken, a roadside snack stand that you'd -- or at least I would -- expect to be spelled Pickin' Chickin. But maybe that company (Chick Fil-A? Boston Market?) with the "Eat more chickin" ads has a trademark on it.

3:03 p.m. -- We cross the Laurel Hill Summit, 2743 feet. With the snow (see previous) today, The Mountain looks much like The Other Mountain from yesterday -- snowy hillsides, unplowed driveways (the few that there are), white trees encrusted in snow. I watch one car turn off at the sign pointing to a trail head and watch it kick up snow down the lane, which has seen a few other holiday hikers drive up. A little further, two cars have pulled off at another parking area on the right and a few people have begun unloading -- or loading, depending on if they're coming or going -- their cross-country skis from the rooftop carriers. It was a fine winter day for a snowy hike or a hilltop glide, somewhat warm despite the snow.

3:10 p.m. -- A big semi cab is backed up to a barn in the Village of Waterford, and Casey makes a comment about it. As we pass, we spot an inflated snowman on the lawn by the well in front of the house.

3:11 p.m. -- Just a few driveways later, a snowman waves from another Waterford yard.

3:22 p.m. -- We're approaching the picturesque village of Ligonier, with its Stars Hollow-like green in the center of town. A one-way rectangular street encompasses the park and shops fill every available curbside space on the opposite side. Just after passing through town and turning onto US 30, I notice a large Santa (there are at least two sizes of Santa and those I refer to as "big," "large" or "giant" are all the same, probably 8-10 feet tall) bearing a gift on the porch of one home. The house is along the river we will follow for the next several miles. With all the rain and snow the northeast has received this winter and throughout much of the year, it looks like a strong, raging river. A sign before a bridge later identifies it as Loyalhanna Creek.

3:27 p.m. -- A giant Santa waves from the lawn in front of Ms. Katherine's Psychic Readings on the outskirts of Latrobe. Three minutes later, we pass Arnold Palmer Motors, with its namesake's neon autograph mounted above the large showroom windows. I don't think I'd noticed passing through Latrobe before, let alone Arnold Palmer Motors. I knew he is from the town, as was Mister Rogers and Rolling Rock "beer," but I guess I had been looking to the right on previous trips.

3:34 p.m. -- Still in Latrobe, we think, I see another Santa In Sleigh with Reindeer, plus a snowman with a broom down the hill from the road. We're just short of the Mountain View Inn.

3:42 p.m. -- Tessa takes a slightly different route to the girls' mom's house so that we can drive along more residential streets rather than the commercial stretch past the mall. In their Greensburg neighborhood, we give an honorable mention to a scary manequin Santa on the steps of a house with a well-decorated yard. He's got a stalker-like look on his face.

3:44 p.m. -- Another giant, this time a snowman in Greensburg.

3:46 p.m. -- We pull up to Moom's house and just as we unbuckle our seatbelts, we see a snowman at the house at the end of the block.

DESTINATION:DELMONT, TO SEE ELF
DATE:DECEMBER 26, 2003
VEHICLE:MOOM'S "TOY CAR"
SURVEY AREA:GREENSBURG TO DELMONT, WHICH PA 66 AND US 22

2:13 p.m. -- A waving Santa on the porch of a house with an amply decorated yard in Greensburg gets Day 3 going. A more familiar (traditional? antique??) plastic Santa (which no doubt lights up) and several wire reindeer (another popular decoration this year, but not as gaudy as the inflatables) also adorn the property.

Moom's car still has it out for me, by the way. I've never sat in the front, owing to the fact that Casey or Tessa always takes that spot, and I continue to have issues in the back seat. It seems that the seatbelts back there -- shoulder belts, as all cars have now -- do their best to trap me in. They lock in place, preventing me from moving and pinning me to the seat. Also, Moom never changes the clock, instead waiting for daylight savings to come back in April. But that's just Moom.

2:19 p.m. -- A dead inflatable Santa is spotted at the top of a driveway. He's deflated, mangled on the ground as if run over by a teenager who doesn't yet understand the responsibilities and intricacies of driving. In another yard lies a dead snowman, also down the hill on a road we're not on.

5:03 p.m. -- "Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?" We all loved the movie. Damn hilarious, it was. Unfortunately, on the drive back to Greensburg, I spot another dead snowman in the countryside.

After dinner and two winning rounds of trivia at BW3 (along with my 22-ounce beer and a few ounces of Moom's poured into my glass), I make some silly comments on the way out to the car, and she laughs, saying I've had a little too much to drink. But then she adds, "I think he's been sucking on my lipstick," a statement that puts us in stitches but refers back to her pouring some of her beer into my glass.

Before returning to the house, we drive around the neighborhoods of Greensburg looking at light displays. We see two more featuring inflatables before 6:45, including one with the cartoon Frosty, a reindeer, a soldier and a penguin. There are also little penguin lights on the ground. Later, we see two more houses -- one with a snowman and one with Santa In Sleigh with Reindeer.

Finally, we turn down Highland Street, parallel to Hampton, where Moom lives, and pass a Pooh Bear sitting on his honey pot squeezed into a porch with a front yard decked out in lights and decorations.

DESTINATION:JOHNSTOWN
DATE:DECEMBER 27, 2003
VEHICLE:KARL AGAIN
SURVEY AREA:THE DRIVE FROM GREENSBURG TO JOHNSTOWN, PRIMARILY US 30 AND THEN PA 271

2:11 p.m. -- A new one: Santa and a snowman standing with their arms around each other on a porch of one of Greensburg's homey little houses packed in next to each other, perched on a hill of one of the town's tiny streets.

2:25 p.m. -- I'll continue to look for inflatables, but this ride is mostly a repeat of the route we took on Christmas. I did see the Latrobe Santa again, just after watching two employees at Arnold Palmer Motors bumping a volleyball to one another in the showroom. We also just passed Fred Rogers Drive, prompting Casey to wonder if he lived there; I speculated that maybe he grew up there.

2:46 p.m. -- Another dead Santa, in Waterford I think, outside Ligonier, before we begin the climb up The Mountain.

6:45 p.m. -- After dinner, we're in Jim's car returning from the pizza parlor and as we're driving down Luzerne Street, almost home, he asks if we decorated our house when I was younger. I explain how we secured lights to the posts of the porch, creating lit arches all around. We used to do shrubs on either side of the steps leading up to the porch, and frame the doorway too. We turn the corner to drive into the alley to get to the driveway, and the house at the corner of Colgate and the alley is a display worthy of Clark Griswold: an inflatable Santa and an inflatable tree (a first!), lights all over, large lit bulbs (about eight inches long, I'd say) around the hedges like a small fence, MERRY CHRISTMAS written out in lights, wooden soldiers on the shutters, a snowman statue and, finally, lights, lights and more lights, first floor and second. I nearly went inside after we got back to the house, grabbed my camera and tripod and walked down to take some pictures, perhaps to use as next year's Christmas cards. I didn't, but that's OK. Someday I'll take pictures of my own house for them.

I just won't have any inflatables on the lawn.