Pretty lights can chase all your blues away

In spite of the cold, I still enjoy this time of the year. There’s something about the cold that makes you feel very much alive, or at least reminds you that you’re not dead.

I’m grateful I have a car to transport me. Although I may silently curse the time it takes to warm up the interior during this time of year, I do try to use that time to my advantage.

Just the other night, I had a short distance to drive, but I decided to make the most of it and drive around the village looking at all the Christmas lights hugging houses and lawns. By the time I made it home, I was toasty and warm and filled with residual good cheer from having seen so many pretty lights. It’s hard to be gloomy when there are pretty lights to be seen.

When my sister and I were roommates in Minneapolis, we took Christmas lights and stapled them to the ceiling of the narrow hallway. We would plug them in before going out and when we got home, it was a cozy feeling seeing those colored lights hanging down the pathways to our bedrooms. We left them up for many years.

Those kind of memories remind me to thank God that I’m so easily amused.

Each year, I think I’m going to decorate the outside of my house with lights and bows and garland and everything else that smacks of Christmas. And every year, I remember that I’m vertically challenged and could probably do some serious damage if I tried using a step ladder to reach anything past my 5-foot, 2-inch stature.

At one time, my nephew was thinking about getting into the home decorating business and planned to set up lights and decorations for the holidays. Even though Illinois was a long way for him to come just to do my lights, I was hopeful that he would do it. Unfortunately for me, he sought another type of employment. It’s probably just as well, since I wouldn’t want him to take the lights down at the end of the season.

I’m contemplating putting up a tree this year. It’s all boxed up and waiting for me in the attic. The trouble this year is where to put it. Now that I work out of my home and have all the archives lining the walls, I don’t really have a space for it. I could put up my smaller one, but I think my Harry Potter ornaments would overwhelm the tree. Yes, I have HP ornaments; please see earlier statement of being easily amused.
Perhaps if I spent as much time doing things as I do thinking about things I would get more done. An interesting theory. Maybe one day I’ll put it to the test.