“Each light tells a story of wonder.”
Lots to do today. This will be my most ambitious day. The dogs need food, the trash needs dumping and the laundry needs washing. I’m sure by afternoon it will be nap time.
Many houses are already lit for Christmas. Some are extraordinary with the house, trees and grounds covered in lights. My neighborhood has a few houses all ready for Christmas. I need Skip, my factotum, here to do mine. I might need a few new light strands for the front. I do have a few new lights for the railing and the fence in the backyard. I can do those myself, maybe Monday.
I remember one Christmas when I was a kid, the year we got a telegram from Santa. On the telegram there was a picture of Santa riding in his sleigh. The heading was Dear Ryan Children. Santa mentioned he expected we would be good, and he was looking forward to visiting us on Christmas Eve. I still have that telegram. It has yellowed.
I loved our trips to Boston around Christmas time. The store windows were all decorated. Some figures moved. Their heads nodded and their arms moved mostly up and down. I remember two kids with ornaments in their hands reaching to place the ornaments on a tree. By today’s standards the movements were primitive, jerky, but I thought them magical. In Jordan Marsh the Enchanted Village was window after window of holiday scenes with moving figures. The line to see Santa passed by all the enchanted windows so nobody minded the wait. The trees in the Boston Common were all lit with colored bulbs. They shined bright against the bare branches. In one part of the Common were fenced in live reindeer. We’d walk through the Common oohing and ahing at the lights. I remember the nights were crisp cold. I could see my breath.
Sometimes we’d buy popcorn and munch while we walked. On the street in front of the Common men were selling chestnuts roasting over charcoal fires in small wagons. My father once bought some. I thought they tasted awful.
I remember we fell asleep in the car on the way home.
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
December 3, 2023 at 11:40 am
Hi Kat,
Unfortunately, time waits for no one. I hope you are feeling better today. Don’t try to do too much.
One house in our neighborhood has an enormous set of decorations. They have a 25 or 30 ft. High wire Christmas tree with an automated light show. The remaining decorations cover the entire front and roof of the house. They have Christmas animations in the windows and roof. All the lights are animated along with the Christmas tree. If you tune your car radio to a particular unused FM frequency they are transmitting Christmas music that accompanies the light show and the animations. A couple of years ago we discovered this house and the local ABC affiliate TV station was taping the house for the ten o’clock news. The reporter interviewed my daughter and she appeared that night on TV. I have no idea how much money these folks have invested in their decorations. It’s truly over the top. We discovered a couple of other houses similarly decorated in the local area.
When I was a kid we would go to downtown Dallas to see the Christmas window decorations at Neiman Marcus department store. In those days every major city had one or more locally owned department stores that competed with each other for the most extravagant animated window displays.
December 3, 2023 at 11:40 pm
Hi Bob,
I ended up needing two naps. I did everything: got gas, went to the dump, got animal food, dropped off laundry, picked up laundry and got a few groceries.
There are a houses and places I visit every season. One house even has a TV out front playing a Christmas movie. That house in your neighborhood sounds spectacular. Your daughter must have been thrilled to be on television. I hope you recorded it. There is a program on TV called The Christmas LIght Fight. All the houses are amazing. The number of lights each family uses is almost beyond belief.
I miss those days of decorated windows. A trip to the city was a favorite family trip every Christmas.