I Was Thinking... Rising from the Dead

This may seem like a strange title for a column right after Christmas. The holidays are a time of celebration, lights and merriment. One of our holiday traditions has always been to drive around town in the evening and look at the wonderful display of lights.
Some go beyond lights and erect large inflatable characters. There are Santas, reindeer, snowmen, the Grinch, bears and a wide variety of other seasonal symbols. One Santa in Byron, along County Rd. 5 is the largest one I’ve ever seen. These displays attract your attention as they sway with the wind. As impressive as they are at night when they are inflated and lit up, during the day it is another matter.
Being retired, I have the option of running errands at any time of the day that I choose. On a recent excursion, I passed several houses that looked like they had lawns covered with some type of plastic blobs. These shapeless conglomerations were the “dead” Santas, snowmen, and reindeer of the previous night. Just like Dracula, these Christmas symbols didn’t seem to be able to survive the light of day. Sometime overnight their fullness was depleted, and they sank back to earth as forlorn masses.
However, later they rise again when the sun goes down for another celebratory evening of life. I admire these people who take the time and effort to bring these creations to life every night for the benefit of anybody driving by.
I have no idea where the tradition of decorating the outside of houses with colored lights as a Christmas celebration began. But I do know, there are many degrees of Christmas lighting. Some enjoy a very subdued approach and just put lit candles in their windows. Many use lights to frame the edges of their houses in a bit more elaborate show of lights.
The next level goes beyond the house and decorate fences and trees on the lawn and maybe add a Christmas character too. Now with computerization, a few homeowners with technical skills have incorporated music and lights to create a moving presentation of sight and sound. But some go above and beyond.
As with all things, there are degrees of lighting, and this group is at the top. They create extravaganzas of light and color that are difficult to even describe. Their entire property becomes a light show. You can always tell these places by the constant stream of cars driving by. I’m not sure you can see these places from space, but any passing plane could pinpoint their location. These places are part of the reason we keep adding solar farms.
The final chapter of the seasonal lighting story is when lights should be turned off for the season. Most people keep lights on until at least New Years. Some continue for the twelve days of Christmas. Others would like to extend their holiday displays to almost the middle of January.
We turn our lights off by New Years, but they stay up until I find one of those January thaw days when I can take down the lights without freezing my fingers But a few feel if they bothered to put them up in the first place, they are going to make the most of it and still have them on for Ground Hog’s Day. In addition to lights, there is also a question as to how long you should be allowed to keep up a Christmas wreath? But that’s probably a topic for another column.
 
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