Ours was the first house on the block to get its holiday lights up and running this year, on or about November 7th. Before you report me to the Grinch committee, let me defend myself.
I usually try to get the lights up early because I hate doing it in the freezing cold. It’s just more practical. However, oftentimes in the past I’ve been too busy so I often ended up doing it with numb fingers as I swore at the stiff wires which refused to do my bidding. This year, because retirement, I had lots of time and the weather was sublime, so I thought, why not get it done early? I don’t have to turn them on until a respectable date like December 1st, but at least they’ll be ready.
It’s not like I put up anything complicated at all. I basically wind some colourful lights around the wrought iron bannister of our front stairs, set up a timer and that’s it. Takes ten minutes. Fifteen if I can’t locate the proper extension cord right away. I’m not into Santa Claus blow-up dolls, reindeer, creches, or what-have-you. In the past I tried winding the lights around the cedar trees out front, but I couldn’t be bothered to pull out a ladder, so the lights only covered up the bottom six feet and just looked pathetic. Now I keep it simple.
Once I had everything hooked up I had to test them to make sure they worked and they did! By then it was 4:30 and getting dark, so I thought, what the heck, I’m leaving them on! They had already given me a pick-me-up, so I couldn’t see the logic in waiting two weeks so that I wouldn’t be sneered at behind my back. What do I care what happens behind my back? It was only when I looked up and down the block later that night that I realized we were the first decorated house on the block this year. Instead of feeling abashed, it gave me a lift. What an honour! I’ve become the kind of people I would have criticized (pretty jolly harshly, too!) in years past for getting a ridiculous jumpstart on Christmas. I mean, Hallowe’en was only last week for Pete’s sake, I would have said. But as I get older, I care less and less for these conventions. November and December, before the snow falls, are very dreary months and a little light goes a long way.
We celebrate Christmas in so far as we have some friends and family over for a huge feast and exchange a few gifts, but that’s as far as it goes. We are not Christians, (as I wrote about last year), and yet here we are. I prefer to think of these as solstice lights, though they’re still way early for that. I could call them equinox lights, too, since they’re often still on until spring. Sneer at me if you will, but after hearing literally everyone I’ve talked to this week mention how depressing the early sunset is since the time change, I’m not ashamed to leave them out until the days are long enough to be bearable.
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