The Sounds and Sights of Christmas

Pop, pop, pop.. tinkle..clink

"Goddamnitsonofabitch!"

With no Chicago Bears game on Sunday, I decided I had time to hang a string of Christmas lights across the front porch. This year I picked out the old fashioned string that Mark bought a few years ago. And by old fashioned, I mean that they are colored, glass bulbs, that screw in. They use a lot more electricity and burn hot, but they do remind me of my childhood and of my dad doing the very same thing that I had just done. I had dropped the end of the string on the concrete and broke half a dozen bulbs. As the curse words flowed freely out of my mouth I could picture my dad out on the front porch of our little house on Ravinia Drive. I sure miss that guy. Anyway, I immediately stomped into the house, cursing and swearing, and ordered Mark to get on up to the store for some replacement bulbs. This job was going to take a little longer than planned. As it is, it took a full ten minutes to string those lights, including the time it took to scoot the broken ones into the ferns with my foot. Just as I was finishing up though, I heard some commotion across the fence from our house. It was the neighbors.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"We're putting up the Christmas yard decorations."

I looked around. There was a cute little set of three foot high mice dressed in holiday clothing across the front of the yard. From the high point of the eaves, there was a large cutout Santa clinging by one hand as if he were about to fall. There were various other Christmas characters placed around the yard along with a gigantic decorated wreath with lights that was hung from the big tree out front.

"Don't trip over the cords there.", my neighbor warned. "We still have the laser light show we have to install."

"Laser light show?"

"Yes, when it gets dark it will look like it is snowing on the house and in the tree."

I stood there staring at their handiwork, impressed with their enthusiasm for the holiday. I looked back over at my house and the pathetic single string of lights that I had hung along the porch. I have to admit, I did feel just a tinge of embarrassment. So I marched right back over to my yard and connected another string of Christmas lights to the one that I had already put up.