Those #$%&* Christmas Lights...

We've lived in our house since 2003 and since 2003 we've hung outside Christmas lights around our front door. The way we designed the front porch works well with lights, at least, we think so. One day we'd like to go all-out and put lights all around the house and on our huge pine trees that are next to the house.

One day.

Then again, maybe we won't.

Normally, I put up the lights and forget about them. They've worked well year after year, but this year we've been bit by the Christmas light gremlins. And it's a tad frustrating. 

A day or two after I put up the lights they were all out. After a little troubleshooting, I found the problem. The first string was bad. I quickly checked the 100 bulbs on the string and they did not come back on, so I got another string--one that was working--and replaced that first string. 

We're good, I thought.

Nope.

Within a few days of working fine, they all went out again. Once again, I found that first string out. This time, I found the problem--when placing a snow shovel against the railing, it broke a bulb and blew the fuse. No problem--I'll just replace it again, which I did.

Last night, after several days of full illumination, I went outside and saw all the lights out again. The first sting is out. I'm thinking I'll just leave it as it is. I mean, I suppose I could replace the string yet again, but what's the point? The strange thing is, this has never happened before in the sixteen years we've lived here. 

Those #$%&* Christmas lights.

Christmas Lights Still Up...And I Love It!

Around 2002 - 2003 my sister and her husband built a house on a hill. When finished the house offered an amazing view of the valley below, and because you can see so much from above, those of us below can see the house they built.

Especially at night when bright lights burn in the windows.

My sister moved and sold the house. It's been bought and sold several times since. The current owners moved in a few years ago. They've a wonderful family with a couple of beautiful dogs that visit us from time to time. 

And they still have their outdoor Christmas lights and Christmas tree up.

I love it.

When I lived in Europe, I can't exactly remember when Christmas lights and decorations went up. At that time they didn't celebrate Halloween (I think that's changed since...) and they definitely didn't celebrate the American Thanksgiving as we do, so they're free to put up Christmas decorations earlier. There's few things as beautiful as Christmas decorations adorning the streets and homes of Denmark.

But, as with all things, when the time comes the lights and things are put away, to rest for three seasons.

Our neighbor isn't the only one to keep the holiday lights up, but it's the closest one to us and every night we can see the colors and white tree shine from above. I don't know now long they'll keep the lights and tree up, but I'm glad they have. After all, is there a better time of year than Christmas?

Farmington's Tree Of Hope...Beautiful!

We'd seen the tree as we drove home from picking up our daughter from school, but only the top half. From what we could see, it looked amazing. Tonight we decided to drive by and see the entire tree.

I'm glad we did.

It was beautiful.

There's so many amazing Christmas displays out there--we won't get to see them all. We don't know if the display at the park was there last year, but we don't think it was. Turns out the tree was decorated as a tribute to Elora, someone who had cancer.

The tree is at one of the town parks and around the perimeter of the park are decorations and lights. We'll have to come down one night and take a stroll through the park, well-bundled, of course. If you're in Farmington at night during December, the park is northwest of the old K-Mart. It's a beautiful tree.

Living In A Winter Wonderland...

Because of the topography where we live we get what are called winter inversions. This means that cold air is trapped between the mountains and hot air above seals it in, like a lid on a pot. The trouble with inversions is all the pollution that normally vents itself into the atmosphere is trapped as well. People with breathing problems (and, really, everyone...) has to breathe the dirty air. I've heard that the area was known to the Native Americans as place for deep fogs that occurred every winter, long before any car or factory or wood-burning stove graved the land. I've researched, but I can't confirm it.

Everyone complains about the bad air. Everyone complains about it, but they still seem to drive their cars. I suppose I'm against it as well, but there's one result of the winter inversion that I absolutely love--it's the way it makes everything look. More specifically, it's the way everything, from plants to buildings to rocks, are encased in frost.

This morning and tonight I went outside and tried to capture the beauty on film (even though there's no film involved...). You know what I mean. I got a few shots, but I couldn't get just how beautiful is is, at least beautiful in my eyes.

Tonight as the kids are playing boardgames with their friends as they wait for 2016 to disappear only to be replaced by 2017, I ventured outside to a small pine tree we decorated with star-shaped LED lights. If you look carefully you can see what we're breathing encased in ice.

Eventually the inversion breaks apart, usually by a storm or a big wind, and the sun returns to our darkened world--it happens every year. All the frosted plants, buildings, and rocks are freed from their frozen prison. It's good for the lungs, but makes everything look ordinary again. Like everything else, there's a price to pay for beauty.

Illuminating The Season...

Years ago, my cousin held an annual Christmas Eve family get-together. We'd go to her house and bring a soup or stew or some other kind of food item. We'd all hang out in their family room, eat until we were stuffed and have a fantastic time. Of course, the experience wouldn't be complete without getting in our cars and driving around the neighborhoods to see the decorated homes and yards and to also see the Luminaries. Luminaries, if you don't know, are basically tea candles in paper bags. Alone a single Luminary is not too impressive, having an entire neighborhood lined with Luminaries spaced only a few feet apart is.

So much has changed since we used to go to my cousin's house in the mid-2000s. People are no longer with us, families have expanded, but we've tried to at least gather on Christmas Eve for soups, games, and fun. This year, we had a get-together and we wondered if those neighborhoods still put out their Luminaries. We decided to find out.

The answer is, yes, they do. However, by the time we drove by, most of the paper sacks were slumped over and soggy from the rain/snow, their candles long since extinguished. We did, however, see many wonderfully decorated homes.

My son suggested we drive to a house in Centerville that had a display timed to music. It was the last stop of our adventure, the last Christmassy thing we did before returning home and getting ready for Santa's arrival. I decided to include photos of our indoor and outdoor lights and the one a few miles to the south where music and lights crated magic.

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone, and if you're reading this tomorrow, Merry Christmas!

Christmas Lights, Neighbors, And Loafs Of Bread...

"Does your son like to get up early?" my neighbor asked me last Sunday at church. I had to ask him to repeat the question because I wasn't sure what he had asked. "Does your son like to get up early?" he said again.

"Yeah," I said, a little surprised. "He actually does. When I get a chance to sleep in, he's usually up before me." I then asked him why he asked me that. He said, "I just wondered, because if he's going to be baker, he'll have to get up early."

It then made sense to me. Last week my son and I dropped off a loaf of bread at my friend's house, a loaf of bread my 17-year old son baked. Why did we do that? It's just what we do in our neighborhood (especially if it's close to the end of the month...). Our friends were not home, so when we got back home, I sent a Facebook message to them telling them of our little gift in case they didn't enter their home through the front door.

About an hour later, my friend responded on Facebook saying they were out of town and no one would be home until the next day. It gets cold where we live at this time of year so my son and I decided to go retrieve the loaf of bread so it didn't freeze.

We stopped by another neighbor's house and decided to drop it off, thinking it would be appreciated. And it was. Hence, the comment about the early rising son. I snapped several pictures of their beautiful outdoor Christmas lights. I'm a sucker for beautiful outdoor Christmas lights. 

My son is a really good baker. Now, my son needs to bake another loaf of bread. I hope they're home this time...