Car Shopping, Christmas Lights and Houses

I promised to show some of the general Christmas lights in the neighbourhood. This house was one we snapped last night, most of the detail is lost in the dark but this gives you an idea of the great effort that they go to. Apparently there are businesses that you hire to put up and take down all your lights!
During the week we thought that we should get down to serious business and find a car and house so we didn't have to inconvenience the Hahn's for too long.
We we car shopping with Lance and his wife Cass, who is Ida Mae's son.
They took us to some car lots and we were overwhelmed by the size of the cars. Everything was bigger and longer than the cars in Australia. We had asked several people about what cars they recommended and the overwhelming advice was to get a big SUV.
Most said that they felt safer being in the biggest car on the road. It is an interesting trend, given that everyone would have to just keep getting bigger and bigger to be the largest vehicle out there.
Each SUV seems to come in a few different variations: Long, longer and semi-trailer long. WHICH TO CHOOSE??
So we started to look for what seemed familiar and we found a Toyota Sienna that closely resembled our old car (Toyota Avensis). It was a big bigger but pretty similar. They do seem to have a certain popularity here because they have 8 seats which is a necessity for most families here.
We test drove one and it was a scary scary moment to say the least. Thank goodness Lance was sitting in the passenger seat next to Win because there were a few times Win nearly turned into oncoming traffic at the intersections. Driving on the wrong side is a lot harder than I imagined. I have spent a lot of time trying to watch and get used to the foreign concept but I have not attempted to drive yet. The first week I had a few 'panic' moments where I was sure that we were driving into oncoming traffic. It has improved with time and I think that it won't be so bad when I finally attempt to drive.
Not much snow this week, lots of rain which I hear is unusual for this time of the year but on the plus side we have been looking at houses all week and it makes it much easier to assess a back yard and outlook when it is not covered in snow. Everything looks the same when there is snow and you can't see the landscaping.
We have looked at around 20 or so houses, and have been impressed with the size and basements. The kitchens and bathrooms have been hard to get used to. They all favour timber kitchens, which is really hard to get used to. And in the bathrooms they all seem to have bath/showers - and a lot have curtains in the shower instead of glass doors.... these are quite new houses too. It baffles me, but the rest of the house usually makes up for that, being large and spacious with lovely exteriors.
We have found a few that appeal but still trying to figure out which neighbourhood we want to live in.