The Festival Of Lights

When we get to December each year, invariably the conversation turns to the Festival of Lights.  Now some might think that I’m referring to Hanukah.  They would be wrong.

I’m talking about Christmas of course.  Hanukah is fairly straight forward.  We light candles each night for eight nights.  Easy peasy.  You put the candle in the menorah, light it up and it burns until there is nothing left.  Rinse and repeat for 7 more nights.

For Christmas, there are lights everywhere. 

We have an artificial tree that is pre-lit so that one is pretty easy.  Just plug in and decide which of its kaleidoscope of colors and features you feel in the mood for today. 

Then we also get a real Christmas tree, usually a Frasier fur if we can find one.  It goes in a different room from the artificial one.  Makes the whole house smell wonderfully piney.  Into its stand it goes and then come the lights.  It never fails to amaze me how many lights you can put on a single Christmas tree.  It’s like the tree swallows them whole.  When done right, the lights are plentiful and well spaced so there aren’t any parts of the tree that look especially bright or especially dark.

Trees are done.  Whew! 

We have a wreath outside our front door that gets lights too.  Check!

And we have some outdoor trees that need stringing as well.  These often require a ladder or long pole (or both)!

Some years we run swags along our fence and wire those up with lights so our whole fence line is dressed for the holiday.  Typically that depends on how early in the season we start decorating and whether the weather has turned frigid by then.

Now some people also string up lights all over their house.  We have never been those people.  And yet, I’ve never felt like we slack in the lights department.  We do an excellent job with the decorations we have and they really do warm up an otherwise cold night.

I also enjoy driving around during Christmas week to look at other people’s light displays.  Some people are reserved and these can be very tasteful.  I especially like the look when people put a single candle-looking light in each window of their home.  Other folks believe that more is more and go all out.  It would be overwhelming for me if we did that but I do appreciate the effort.

Enjoy the lights this holiday season!  HO HO HO.

Frosty