'Tis [still] the season

It has become de rigueur to complain about how the Christmas holidays are starting earlier and earlier. Well, I have decided to reverse that custom and whine about how the holidays are ending earlier and earlier.

It wasn’t that many years ago that every neighborhood had a house whose lights were still on for Valentine’s Day and there was always the family who didn’t bother to take down their lights at all; they just turned them on around Thanksgiving and stopped lighting them mid-January.

This year, the day after Christmas, I woke up bright and early still basking in the glow of a satisfying Christmas day, and couldn’t find any carols playing on the radio. Bummer.

Then, while having my first cup of coffee and admiring our Christmas trees, fireplace decorations, and gifts, I looked out the window and noticed the neighbors across the street taking down their lights.

Finally, the last few nights I noticed how dark and depressing the neighborhoods are without all the decorations and I decided to fight this early ending of the holiday season.

Let’s remember that there are Americans who won’t be celebrating Christmas until January 6th, which is the Feast of the Epiphany. And what about the twelve days of Christmas? Can’t we wait for the Wise Men to arrive?

There is something magical about watching a snowfall through Christmas lights, but in this area that doesn’t usually happen any more until January or February so there is even more to be said for leaving the lights turned on.

Life can be boring enough in mid-winter without us humans making it worse.

Anyway, if in mid-January you are finally taking the decorations off the Christmas tree and you fall off the ladder and need to call the rescue squad, well, you can just turn on the outside Christmas lights to make it easier for them to find the house.

See, I told you it was a good idea to leave them up!