Every since I can remember, I have always liked the white twinkling Christmas lights. Maybe because I grew up on fake trees and colored lights. In Hawaii, it was the silver aluminum Christmas tree with red balls without lights, maybe because the silver was bright enough for my mother in her very plain French way. In California it was always the fake green tree. I used to whine, why can't we get a real tree? to my mother, who would always reply, because I'm allergic, which I'm sure she made that up, not liking to deal with the falling needles and smell. So it was the fake green, with red balls and colored lights. I can remember eating breakfast before school and looking at the tree and it always gave me a feeling, to quote a song, comfort and joy. When I moved out, it was always always, real pine trees, methodically picked and fussed over on the Christmas tree lot. And it always had to be white lights. Real trees and white lights. It wasn't until last year I decided to try the colored lights on the tree and you know what, I liked them. The lights on the house were white and this year, I decided to put up colored lights as well. Of course one should always have a plan when decorating the house with lights, but I kinda just took strands strung them up and plugged them in. Never mind that half the front shrubs had white lights with the last shrub having colored, never mind that the lights leading from the shrub were colored which lead to the icicle lights over the entrance were white which lead to the tree that had white lights which lead to the strand over the garage which were colored. When I plugged in everything, it looked like someone threw a bag of lights over our house and the different colored lights landed where they may. I kept thinking it needed more lights so I made a late night CVS run and bought a stand of colored lights, but only to plug them in, when the entire connection went out. Thankfully, I found which strand it was and had to remove it from the bottom of the tree. I decided there and then, no more fooling around with the lights, because something else will go out. I've come to the conclusion, it's a conspiracy with the Christmas light companies you know. They make the Christmas lights every year in different bulb sizes so you can't interchange the bulbs from one strand to another, let alone trying to find the one bulb that is burnt out. It's just easier to buy a new box. I know the house looks kind of pathetic, but at least it's festive unlike the non-lighted homes on the block. Hopefully next year, it will either be all white or all colored lights, meanwhile, now I have to decide, to tinsel or not to tinsel! So many decisions!
