January 12, 2014

Lights in the new darkness

I wrote a few days ago that I was feeling a bit bad about not taking down my Christmas lights. (They're still up.) The thing is, though, that I'm sort of happy to have them still hanging around.

I've always loved Christmas lights. Not necessarily the razzle-dazzle, big-time displays, though those certainly have a place. No, I just like regular old lights -- strings that hang from eaves, wrap around porch posts or encircle a wreath. It doesn't really matter what color they are or what kind of bulbs, as long as they bring light to an unexpected place.

A spectacular display in my hometown.

For as long as I can recall, my family have had lights strung around the house at Christmas. For a while, they were icicle lights -- annoying, miserable, icicle lights, as it turned out. Strands of the icicle lights were inevitably tossed onto the roof by the incessant winds on our hill -- and, nine times out of 10, frozen there by icy weather. Dad loved those lights, let me tell you.

Most often, however, my folks have had strings of old-fashioned white C9 lights -- those warm, glowing incandescent bulbs that can light up a room. With a string around the entire house -- and even up over the center of the house where the roof changes heights -- the entire yard gets lit by those lights. More importantly, the lights shine into each and every room of the house. They create a warm buzz about the windows, constantly hinting that something exciting might be just outside.

In our new neighborhood, I was thrilled to see strings of red, white, green and blue popping onto the homes near ours. Even without a string on each and every home, our neighborhood got quite colorful during the holidays.

As the lights have come down, one by one, I've been as sad as I always am to see the streets return to their January selves. There's nothing particularly cold, or even dreary, this year, about northern California. Nonetheless, it's tough to see a bejeweled street go back to being a non-bejeweled one.

So, partially in protest, and partially in deference to the insurmountable list of other to-do's at home, my Christmas lights shall stay up for now. In this time of continued change, I'm thankful for a constant bit of light.

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