It’s cold today, bitter cold. Not the kind of day you want to be outside working, no sun, some fog, and enough breeze to put a chill in your bones. One of those days where the cold goes right to your bones. I had to do it though, go outside to put up lights I mean, it was only my procrastination and lack of motivation that put me there so late in the season so “quit your bellyaching” I tell myself, and move on.
It was putting up Christmas lights that placed me out in the frigid air, 2 days in a row no less. Mind you it was only about 45 minutes yesterday to put lights on the front of the house, maybe an hour today to put them on the handrails of the deck. All told not too bad, a small effort for a big reward. And todays effort took longer than it should have because I screwed it up the first time and had to re-do it. I was afraid it was going to hate putting out the lights, I thought it might bum me out as that’s what it generally did prior years. For whatever reason the whole Christmas experience often ended up being a negative thing, hanging the lights was the least of it. And it wasn’t the meaning of Christmas, I’m totally onboard with that.
I think the biggest cause of my Scrooge-like feeling was the stress it used to create, primarily between my wife and myself. It was partly the shopping, partly the ongoing house decorating, but I think primarily the big family gatherings. Now don’t get me wrong but it wasn’t family per se that put me off but rather the number of family (people in general) and the ensuing din throughout the house. I’ve never been one to thrive in large groups, preferring smaller more intimate gatherings, and throw into the mix the rambunctious kids all wound up from the Christmas festivities and accompanying treats. What can I say, I’m an introvert and happy to be so.
But I digress. The point is Christmas used to be a dreaded holiday, including lights, but now not so much. In some ways I actually enjoy the event of hanging lights , not withstanding the sub-zero temperatures. Dare I say that I feel somehow blind-sided by this turn of events. I think I actually might have enjoyed putting them up, and hold your flippin’ hat, I may want to put up more. Maybe Christmas ain’t so bad after all, perhap the lights didn’t darken my day.
Comments
Hanging lights and all the preparation can be stressful. I already put up our tree since my family and I are Christmas fans. On the first day of placing all the decorations, the new tree we bought wasn’t able to handle the weight and fell. Half of the glass decors broke and was was our heart. We collected them through the years. After a day, we realized that perhaps better things are about to come and that’s one beautiful promise of the holidays. Great post.
Our tree won’t go up for another week or so but generally it’s the first of Dec.
while your tree falling is sad, and what happened to your decorations, it also brought a smile to me. It will provide a good story for the future and I think taking the positive from it is the best thing to do. It was the weight of the love that caused it to tip.
Take care and I hope you have a Merry Christmas.