I put up Christmas lights this year, and I put them up early. It turns out, that's not a bad thing. If I needed validation for my decoration exuberance, a study published on Mental Health Floss offers it. That study boldly states, "Eager decorators...are happier". Also, "For many, putting up Christmas decorations early is a way for them to reconnect with their childhoods."
I will admit right here that I love Christmas lights. They are a welcome distraction, a bit of fantasy when other pieces of life are spinning out of control. I can't listen to the news anymore. I check in briefly to learn the most recent affront to decency. Then I turn it off. Christmas lights are pretend. I'm good at that.
And I fit right in with my neighbors. As you can see from the pictures on this page, people like to decorate in my small suburban community. They decorate in early October for Halloween. Thanksgiving gets its due, also, with those decorations often going up even before the Halloween decorations have disappeared. St. Patrick's Day? You bet. Easter? Oh yes. But nothing comes close to what people do for Christmas.
We moved into this house two years ago, in December. We saw the lay of the land immediately. Most of the homes were ablaze with lights. So we threw up some before we were even settled. My gut told me this was an important part of being a neighbor. I could see as I drove around that the lights seemed to sprout in groups. A whole row of houses would be glimmering and then there would be a dark patch.
Lights, it seemed, were a kind of communication. Another article from Mental Health Floss cites a study that found, "... people who decorate their homes for the holidays tend to appear friendlier to their neighbors."
Christmas decorations, it is reported, have a social symbolism. By jumping in immediately and throwing lights on our bushes, my family was sending out a message: We're friendly. We will be good neighbors.
Now I may be a good neighbor, but I am not sociable. If you fall down, if your kid wanders away, if your house is being burgled--you can be sure I will jump in and help. But I won't invite you to tea, nor will I attend one of your house parties. However, it seems my decorations may compensate. According to that same study (cited in the previous paragraph), "decorating for the holidays is an easy way to appear more sociable than you are".
I'm loving my decorations more and more.
So to whom do we owe this sparkly Christmas tradition? According to Smithsonian Magazine, Thomas Edison's associate, Edward Hibberd Johnson, was the first person to string lights on a Christmas tree. The magazine describes the moment, in 1882, when that first string of lights was lit:
Setting up a tree by the street-side window of his parlor, Johnson hand-wired 80 red, white and blue light bulbs and strung them together around it, and placed the trunk on a revolving pedestal, all powered by a generator. Then he called a reporter.
And so a tradition began. By 1894, President Grover Cleveland was putting lights on the White House Christmas Tree. According to the Smithsonian Magazine, by 1930, colored Christmas lights were "everywhere". They certainly are everywhere in my neighborhood.
It's funny that with all the pictures of blazing houses I'm posting today, I don't have a picture of my house. My granddaughter shot these as we drove around the neighborhood, slowly. My husband can't walk too far so the car was the most efficient way to have a tour. Plus, it was freezing that night.
My decoration methodology? If it's on sale, I'll buy it. This means there is nothing elegant about my Christmas decorations. Also, I like to use solar when possible. I choose decorations that look attractive at night and in the daylight. The effect of my lights is lively, and cheerful. The house looks quite bright.
I know all the arguments against putting up so many Christmas lights, or any Christmas lights at all. First of all, they are wasteful. Environmentally unsound and flashy. Ordinarily, I am quite responsible, and demure. But not now.
If I'm feeling a bit discouraged by a world that seems to be out of control, all I have to do is go out on the sidewalk and look at my glimmering house. I get a lift simply by doing that. This is a less expensive and more salubrious antidote to reality than popping a pill.
How long can I leave the lights up? Most people take them down the day after New Years. Quite commonly the sixth of January, the Epiphany, marks the end of Christmas and the day the lights come down.
I hope you enjoyed this glittering gallery of garishly decorated homes. My neighborhood is modest. Many of the homes quite small. They (most of them) have one thing in common: the homeowners want to share with their neighbors the bright (oh so bright) spirit of Christmas.
Thank you for reading my blog. Health and peace to everyone, all year round.
(By the way: We do have one house down the block from me that puts up a Menorah every year--very bright, and beautiful.)
