photo © 2007 Allan Harris | more info (via: Wylio)Prologue - Sunday: Ever since Thanksgiving, Christmas lights have, at first slowly but recently at an ever increasing rate, been popping up all around our neighborhood. To Lukas, at 3 years old, it has been fun to look for and spot new sets of lights. He gets very excited, and has turned it into sort of a game to notice them before we do calling out "Ooooooh, look at those lights Daddy!'
Of course, at the same time he has been excited for us to put up our own light display. We don't normally do this early, but we actually broke with our normal tradition of decorating the 2nd weekend in December, in order to both excite and appease our little man.
It seemed to work too. All the while, he Oooohed and Awwwwed at our strings, which we use to frame our porch before stringing down the stairs on either side from that point to the street level below. He was especially excited to help plug one strand into another, lighting up a new section of the clear icicle lights.
The whole experience left Mrs. LIAYF and I quite pleased. After all, we were lighting up our home with the warm glow of love, happiness, and the holidays.
Until - Wednesday: As we approached our neighborhood on the drive home last night Lukas was, as usual, looking out the window and taking in the passing world. It was then that we pulled up to a stop light and he noticed, through a thin grove of trees, a house that was aglow with light. Now, this was not your garden variety house. This house was lit up like the house from Christmas Vacation, with what must have been thousands of lights of various colors.
"Whoooa!" Lukas gasped.
"That's a lot of lights buddy" I responded. "Do you like them?'
"Yeah! Daddy?"
"Yes, son"
"We should go home and put up lights on our house too!"
"But Buddy, don't you remember? We already put up lights the other night."
"I know." He said, hanging his head a little and lowering his lip slightly. And then, pointing at the illuminated house he finished with....
"But not like that!"
Post Script: Everyone, it seems, is a critic.
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16 comments:
Poor guy! :) We put up our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving which is earlier than we usually do it. I think it is funny how our kids keep us from procrastinating when it comes to decorating.
Haha...We seem to add a few lights every year. We may be the Griswold house on the block very soon! :)
The grass is always greener on the other side, right? We aren't even at home this christmas so our tree is nothing more than a yard ornament that we brought indoors and plugged in. :-) But, we've been touring neighborhoods where people have gone all out. I don't know how they do it, but it makes for great entertainment for the kiddos.
Awesome! I'd have a Griswold Christmas lit house if anyone would let me. I'm definitely gung-ho this year, we've had our lights on for the past two weeks!
I decorate like Lukas would if he could.
We pointed out a glorious light display tonight and asked, "See the lights, do you like it?" "Yeah" she said non chalantly. Then she looked across the street at a single strand draped over some bushes and said with greater enthusiasm, "Look another Christmas lights!!!"
There's a lot of that goin' around! Merry Christmas.
Hi James. Haha your little man is so Smart and trying his luck to con you to lit up yr place more. Good reading. Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. I m from Malaysia, from the other corner of the world and love "jet setting" through the various parts of the world through blogsphire!!! Do visit my blog sometimes!!! God bless.
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After Thanksgiving? I had a neighbour putting up his the weekend after Halloween. Seriously.
We get the same comments from my daughter sometimes; my wife prefers understated to Clark Griswold, so we've got a string along the roof and then a spotlight on the doors with a wreath on each.
That kind of stings a little.
I like looking at the lights but am happy that I don't have to do it.
We're in the same boat, but I'm with you on this one. Simple, classy lights. A few strands. Done.
But to kids, when it comes to lights, more is more is more. The brighter the better. With Our son, I find that he enjoys houses more when there are various different mismatched strands. It's the winter version of the grass is always greener on the other side.
LOL'd at this one! I can hear my girls saying the same thing, heheh. Our own display is meager this year, even by our own standards. Oh well, there's always next year...
Best wishes of the season!
Hang in there dad. Our kids love looking at lights also, while our illuminated decorations are limited to the front porch.
Be strong--don't weaken in the face of Griswold syndrome. Less is often (usually) more when it comes to Christmas lights, I say.
(Of course, I'm so Grinch-like that we currently have no lights at all on the outside of our house, so maybe you should go by me.)
I hope you put up more lights and unveil them with a drum roll and a "Joy to the World!"
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