Old School Xmas Lights

“You taught me everything I know about exterior illumination.“
Clark Griswold to his father in Christmas Vacation

I’ve never done much with Christmas lights. Over the years I’ve made many a half-assed effort, putting a few strings of mini-lights together with some garland on the porch. Or following crowd with a string of stupid white ‘icicle’ lights.

Not this year. This year, we got ourselves some ‘real’ Christmas lights, and I even found the nerve to drag my shaking butt out onto the roof to hang a string on the second floor. Our Christmas display won’t be causing any traffic jams of cars filled with wide-eyed gawkers. By most any measure, it’s rudimentary. But everything is relative, and for us this is a big leap forward built on a happy memory looking backward.

I hesitate to confess my other memory about these big old Christmas lights, but it’s time I did. I remember the satisfying ‘POP’ a hot Christmas bulb would make when hurled like a grenede onto the street behind our house. Sorry Dad, Sean and Kevin made me promise not to tell 😕