Did I get my Christmas lights up? Yes, I did! Although I have to admit that I was a little late this year; our house was one of the last houses in our little cul-de-sac to get its decorations up - besides the ones who never decorate. Once again I’m left wondering why it is that the lights I carefully put away in perfect order last Christmas are now so tangled up and why is it that so many lightbulbs are missing. Can it be that devious sock drawer creature is working a double shift to earn some extra cash before Christmas? You know who I’m talking about, right? That unseen creature who steals one sock from your drawer so that you can’t find a matching pair of socks. Sometimes this creature lives in the dryer and does his sock stealing from there. But I digress -back to the Christmas lights!
Early last Saturday morning as I was enjoying a few extra minutes in bed, I thought I heard voices outside my house - and then I heard the distinct sound of a ladder slamming against my next door neighbor’s roof. Instantly I could feel the panic growing in my belly; my new next door neighbor had just started putting up his Christmas decorations! Our houses were the last two put up lights this year and now the race was on to see who would be the LAST HOUSE. Oh the shame! Which, of course, lasts until it is time to take down the lights and then a new contest begins – but that’s a story for another day. I quickly realized that my new neighbor had now become my rival and was at that very moment working to make me the LAST house with lights. I flew up out of bed, woke up my wife as carefully as I could, and hopped into my jeans one leg at a time as I headed down the hallway towards the garage access door in the kitchen. I gazed for a moment at the coffee maker, but there was no time for coffee or breakfast. I dashed out to the garage and quickly grabbed all the Christmas light boxes. Soon I stood tangled in cables testing strands and light bulbs. Thankfully, my wife had stocked up on spare boxes and lightbulbs and I was able to get our strands ready for hanging pretty quickly. I signaled for my wife to raise the garage door and we burst out onto the driveway like two characters in an Indiana Jones movie being chased by an angry mob. A quick look at the neighbor’s house revealed that he had already finished hanging his lights on the roof and he gave us a nervous smile as he continued poking lighted candy canes down into his flower beds.
Now here is where my family shines. In a serious situation like this, when our reputation is on the line, we work as effectively as a Swiss made wrist watch (no not a cuckoo clock!). So we got down to it… ladders where raised, strands of lights where fed and hooked with ease, and I could see in the corner of my eye the desperation on my neighbor’s face as one of his candy canes would not light up. I could hear him calling for his wife as we were threading the red and white lights around the last two palm trees. I ran over to the garage and flicked on our power switch just a second before my neighbor could plug in his last set of candy canes. YES! We did it; we were not last this year either. Victory!! Now the question is, who will be the last house with their Christmas decorations up?