Christmas of Yore

Nothing reminds me of the Christmases of my childhood like big bulbs.  The lights we strung on our home in Ontario that were all the brilliant colors of Christmas, and they were massive in size.

I used to envy the white twinkling lights on other houses.  I thought they seemed so classy.  The "rich folks" always had the tiny white bulbs (at least that's how it seemed...)  And those that draped like icicles from rooftops.... breathtaking.  I always knew that when I grew up and had my house, I would have white, classy lights at Christmas.... like these....

But now...

I miss the massive colorful lights.  They aren't so matchy-matchy, but oh well.  I drove past a house in my neighborhood that had those large, illuminating strings of colorful, tacky splendor nestled between the classy, icicled houses- just like the ones that hung from 1202 as a child-and I wished, inside, I had some too. 

In the cave (closet beneath the stairs) my white lights of last years' Christmas still lie in wait in a box.  Normally we hang ours in November, but we just haven't quite gotten around to it yet.  I'm not one to waste perfectly good lights that have been patiently hiding in a dark box all year, but I feel a strong urge to head over to my favorite home warehouse store and buy some big, colorful bulbs to adorn my house this holiday. 

I am not quite sure why it is the lights that tug at my heart the most.  Lloyd and I don't usually exchange many gifts, so the shopping is definitely not much a factor in the holiday spirit for me; in part because we usually prefer to spend our money on traveling together somewhere and try to honor the holiday by recognizing that what we want most we already have. 

So for me what makes Christmas feel like it is really coming is the lights.  For so long I yearned to be among the classy with my white lights, as though it symbolized something.  But the large, colorful, mis-matchy lights  symbolize something, too.  It's like I'm able to say, "so I'm a little bit tacky, and so what?"

So will it be 'tacky' or 'classy' this year??... we shall soon see....