Christmas lights should be soft not SHAZAAM!

After last years fiasco with the Christmas lights (see last blog), I actually dreaded the moment, when this year, we would pull the tree from the attic and attempt to string the lights. That is why we have a real tree this year, whose name is yet to be decided. I like Hernandez (spoken with a heavy Spanish accent and a roll of the "r").

Since my lights were not being cooperative, I decided to venture out in the snow yesterday and purchase new ones. All they had were the LED lights, so I bought what I needed and went home. After putting them on the tree, I plugged them in and...

SHAZAAM!!


These lights were not only working, they were the brightest white-blue lights I had ever seen on a Christmas tree! They were certainly not saying "Peace on Earth"; instead it was like being flashed by 250 shimmering, blinding white, lightning bug backsides.

My kids were trying to comfort me. "It's okay...maybe once the ornaments are on it won't be so bright." I would have hugged them, but I couldn't see them as my eyes hadn't adjusted yet to the glare.

Is this how the people felt who had always used real candles on their tree, the first time they saw electric lights? Maybe I could get used to the new lights too?

Maybe next year...

Thanks to a sweet friend (you know who you are!), I came home this morning after work, stripped the tree of the cold, white lights and replaced them with the traditional softer glowing lights. Even "Hernandez" sighed in relief.

(ahh, the warm glow of the Christmas tree...)



What should I do with all these LED lights now? I don't want them in my home, but outside? Hmmm, now that's a possibility. I could put them up out by the barn. For the cows and Merry-legs (the pony). After all, on that first Christmas, the star shone above the animal stable where Jesus lay in a manger.

And while these lights cannot possibly hope to compare with the Christmas star, maybe they can serve as a reminder, when I glimpse them outside, that the birth of Jesus is why I hung them in the first place.