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?

Go Buy The Tots A Toy...Buy Lots!

Last night the casts of Centerpoint Legacy Theatre's Christmas Carol revealed to the director and the stage manager what they had been up to for the past several weeks--collecting money to make Christmas special for others.

Doing shows during December means you give up a lot. You give up your time, you give up being able to travel to see loved ones who live in other states, you give up the ability to do Christmas shopping in a timely and responsible manner.

But, when you give up things for others, something amazing happens...somehow when you give, you also receive. The donation drive was something not expected. It was a way to extend that Christmas feeling to those who won't get to see us on stage, to children who will get a gift they otherwise wouldn't get.

The season is filled with stories of people doing things for others. Ours is but one of many. We know it will make others feel good and it made us feel good just seeing their reaction when the gifts were delivered before our show last night. I did learn one valuable thing when that happened. I saw a way to make a speechless Jim Christian. And that's not an easy thing to do. ;)