The Story Of Our Xmas Lights

I still remember the first Christmas that Craig and I were married...... I had grown up in a family that didn't do much in the way of outdoor Christmas lights. If we had a few strings on a bush that was about the extent of it.

The day came when Craig announced we were going to put up Christmas lights outside. "Ok", I thought, "This could be fun"........Little did I know what was about to transcend. Craig got to work and work he did. More and more and more lights continued to go up. It got to the point where I was starting to get embarrassed. All I could think of was that comedy Christmas movie where the utterly ridiculous man over decorates his house to the point of being hideous.

I didn't voice my opinion and decided to let Craig have his fun. It didn't take long for those lights to grow on me and I will have to say it actually grew into one of my favorite parts of Christmas. Most years it was freezing cold when we would put the lights up. We would get all bundled up and Craig would put a speaker in the window so we could listen to Christmas music while we worked. We would put a few strings up then walk out to the road to admire our work and see where more needed to go.

On Spaulding Street we became famous for our Christmas lights. One year we won 3rd place in our town decorating contest. People would stop their cars in front of house to look and take pictures.

Sadly, we did not continue the tradition in our new home when we moved 4 years ago. We tried by putting up a few light here and there but we never reached the glory we did on Spaulding Street. Our excuse was that this house had 2 stories and it was too hard to get up on the roof or we just simply didn't make it a priority with our busy lives.

Every year since we have moved I have heard Craig say that he misses our Christmas lights. It looked like we were headed into another year of excuses but then today Craig announced that he was going to put up Christmas lights. I had other plans so begrudgingly I said I would help. It didn't take long and we were both getting into it again.

My favorite houses are the one's that are so elegantly decorated with all white icicles. I left Craig on the roof and quick ran to Family Dollar and picked up 4 string of the icicles. They looked beautiful on our two story house. We found ourselves talking about what could come to be if we added more next year......... It was a beginning today but I bet next year our lights will be bigger and better than this year and so on........

Thank You Craig for giving us the tradition of our Christmas lights and for teaching me to love it!!!