Twinkle Lights

I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Christmas twinkle lights!!  I especially appreciate those neighbors who put their lights up Thanksgiving weekend... since we ourselves are never quite that ambiguous... in fact... while my husband also enjoys twinkle lights... he just isn't too keen on putting them up... but I eventually am able to sweet talk him in to the task... but... only if it isn't miserably cold outside.  This year tho... I'm cheating and having our lights put up by professionals, because bless his heart... he doesn't have the time, even if he was keen on putting them up.

I love all twinkle lights... whether they are clear, multi-colored, or all one color... they make me smile whenever I see them.  The good thing about the days getting shorter and shorter up until Dec. 21st is that the twinkle lights come on sooner and are visible earlier in the day/evening.  Whenever our family is out and about after dark during the Christmas season... we just have to drive around the neighborhood admiring all the twinkle lights.

Since I'm quite short, it is my husband's job to string the lights and garland around our Christmas tree.  Then when it comes to placing all the ornaments on the tree he is the ornament passer outer... which he would rather do than actually hang the ornaments on the tree.  He first switches the tv to a sports channel (aka... a football game), then he sits with his box of wire hangers and the boxes of ornaments all around him and inspects each ornament, checking to be sure they each have a hanger before handing them off to the girls and I to hang on the tree.  Big ones go on first... little ones go on last... and ALL of the handmade and childhood ornaments get hung.... room MUST be made for every single one!

The best part about hanging the ornaments on the tree is how each ornament has it's own history and story, and these stories are told and retold every single year as each one gets hung on the tree.  We have ornaments that my husband and I have had since childhood, ornaments that our children have had since their birth, ornaments that our children have made in school, ornaments that family have made for us, ornaments from places we have traveled to, and ornaments we have inherited from those who have passed on.  As you can imagine... over the years of gathering ornaments, our Christmas tree isn't able to hold them all... so it was a good thing when our children grew up and took their ornaments with them to their new homes to continue the memories and stories each year.  And of course... the ornaments look much better out of their packing boxes and hung on the tree with the twinkle lights shining behind them to add to their sparkle.

Another of our many family Christmas traditions is the "Tour of Lights" we would take the girls on each Christmas Eve after the candlelight service at church.  We would drive around several neighborhoods oohhhing and ahhing at all the twinkle lights before it was time to finally drive home, put out the cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots for his reindeer, and then shooing the girls off to bed, so that Santa could come and do his work uninterrupted.

As soon as the Christmas tree goes up with all it's twinkle lights aglow... the tree stays lit all day and all night so that whenever you go to bed, and whenever you get up... the first thing you see is the Christmas twinkle lights!

These little lights of mine... I'm gonna let them shine... let them shine, let them shine, let them shine!  So string up those twinkle lights, plug them in and let them shine, let them shine, let them shine!