Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Next Season's Goals

Inspirational song: In the Dark (Billy Squier)

My friends and I were discussing the best Christmas lights displays in town. One friend had gone on a trolley tour of several of the best places around, and she recommended I check one out that happened to be in her neighborhood. I decided that if I was to do that, I should have company. 

We went to steal the grandchildren around 7:15. I requested that they already be in jammies, so they would be comfortable, and I brought along some ultra soft blankets to tuck around them. I opened the sunroof the whole way, hoping it would add to the visibility of the lights. And off we went.

The first place I went looking for was the wild one we saw on New Years Eve. It was very elaborate, and there were flat cutout characters all over the lawn and roof. As we approached, we realized it was completely removed. Like it had never been. Someone must have been busy yesterday taking all that down. So we drove through that whole neighborhood, looking for good stuff. In less than 10 minutes, Dmitri got very quiet, and I looked back to see he was out cold. Val hung in another 10 minutes beyond that, and then her responses to us telling her to look around got less and less enthusiastic. Five minutes after that, she was out too. So we just kept driving slowly through town, the two of us admiring all the lights still up. At least we managed to stay awake in the warm, dark car.

Eventually we reached my friend's neighborhood. Immediately I recognized the house she had described. These folks had wrapped every single tree on their property (and there had to be more than a dozen) completely in lights. One tree in the front yard was draped in all green lights top to bottom such that it looked like a weeping willow, swaying gently in a breeze. It was fantastic. 

Over the course of the evening, I came up with a lot of goals for next year. I hope I remember a few of them when the time comes.

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