The Griswolds' short circuited the lights on the roof. In Mr. Bean's Christmas he pulls the plug in a department store and all the lights in the city go out.
When we look at Clark Griswold we see that shining face of contentment when his lights are finally in, but take a look at the expression on his wife's face. She knows that he is up to know good and his extravaganza has gone overboard and she knows there is disaster at hand.
Since I was a child my father warned us never to put up Christmas tree lights. He said it was a waste of electricity and could cause a fire.
We wined and complained and begged for lights and finally some years after I entered college and moved out my dad loosened up and got some Christmas lights.
Still it's nothing compared to the lights we saw in the movies or one TV or the lights we saw when we went down Candy Cane Lane.
That's right there was a real place on the North side of Chicago called Candy Cane Lane. Mr. Guarino and his neighbors put up candy canes the entire length of the block. I remember my folks and their friends talking about the glory days of Candy Cane Lane.
They said nothing could compare. The neighbors put up those decorations year after year and people would come from miles around. It lasted about twenty years. Somewhere in the mid seventies they stopped because the electric bill was too high. Neighborhoods change. Now people with the spectacular light displays are out in the suburbs.
Somehow I think Christmas Light Day is not really about putting up Christmas tree lights or house lights. I think this day has a much deeper meaning.
The song "Don't let the Light God Out!" touches on some of the historical meanings of "light one candle". Despite oppression from Babylon and Greece one people continued to hope and in them we see the light of hope and peace that should not burn out. We see the light of freedom and justice.
December is the darkest month of the year and some may say this year has been one of the darkest. Many times in history the light had flickered, but the promise was not snuffed out. It shines in us today. I have not lost my faith in Christmas lights, but this year I see them "in a new light".
Light one candle for the Maccabee children
With thanks that their light didn't die
Light one candle for the pain they endured
When their right to exist was denied
Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice
Justice and freedom demand
But light one candle for the wisdom to know
When the peacemaker's time is at hand
Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2)
Light one candle for the strength that we need
To never become our own foe
And light one candle for those who are suffering
Pain we learned so long ago
Light one candle for all we believe in
That anger not tear us apart
And light one candle to find us together
With peace as the song in our hearts
Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2)
What is the memory that's valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
What's the commitment to those who have died
That we cry out they've not died in vain?
We have come this far always believing
That justice would somehow prevail
This is the burden, this is the promise
This is why we will not fail!
Don't let the light go out!
Don't let the light go out!
Don't let the light go out!
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Peter Yarrow
Light One Candle lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc
