Celebrating Christmas is not that important to us, especially not at the same time as everyone else.
But we DO love celebrating LIGHTING SHIT UP at this time of year. We love seeing what other people string up and put together. We love doing something a little special ourselves. Large or small, it is magical fun and we value it so much.
I dream of having the money to get more carried away with our displays. But there is something really special about NOT having money to throw at something so extra — so NOT a recognized basic need — as holiday light decorations, and deciding to invest in what we can (still more than we “should”). Because it is so rewarding and feeds our spirits.
I love that putting up holiday decorations and lights that are visible to passersby is a way to be neighborly and personally expressive. It is a way to quietly give something beautiful and happy-making to strangers without asking anything in return. It is a way of saying “this is who we are; we live here, and this is what we like: these shapes and lights and colors”.
I love the effort Delia and I put into it together. I love doing something creative together that is electric visual art that is not making porn. I love the pictures of us hanging our lights that are so middle-aged and cozy. I love taking the time to assess the shapes of things where we live — this home we’ve lived in for more than a decade — and imagine how to outline bodies of light and color to accent parts of it. Tree columns and roof angles and hello welcome home to our front door.
I love defying people who think our house is abandoned because it’s barely visible from the street and we do everything we can to keep as many of the trees and bushes alive on it and surrounding it; the lights we put on in winter are a challenge to The Tyranny of The Social’s concepts of misanthropy.
Our lights say we are full of love even if we want to hide from all of you during the daytime.
