I love Christmas lights. I always have, ever since I was a little kid and realized that we didn’t have them while most of our neighbors did. My parents explained that Jewish people just don’t do that. At least in those days they didn’t. Now, though, there are a lot of Jewish people who have adopted various Christmas traditions, including lighting up their homes.

I’m one of those people. I love to decorate for holidays, and for Christmas in particular. I think it’s because I felt kind of left out all those years when my friends and neighbors celebrated Christmas and our family just kind of stood on the sidelines watching. When I married a man who celebrated Christmas, I took it as a pass to go for it. I’ve been doing Christmas decorating ever since.

Today we did the outside lights. We bought some new ones a couple of weeks ago and set them aside, waiting until after Thanksgiving. This is our first Christmas in this house, so we’ve never done the lights here before. We decided to go with the larger old school style bulbs. I’ve always liked those, they remind me of gumdrops on a gingerbread house.

My sweetheart got on the ladder, and meticulously placed those lights so that there’s not a single crooked bulb. He took his time, and they look perfect. My son set up the row of candy canes, and he put together this year’s new decoration, an angel pig, complete with wings and halo. I do love my flying pigs, and I was delighted to find this one a few months back. My job was to wrap the bushes out front in lights.

As the sun began to dip below the horizon, we flipped the switch. Santa inflated, the pig lit up, and the candy canes sparkled. The multi-colored gumdrop lights looked perfect too. The left side of the yard was a success, but the right side stayed dark. Cords were checked, bulbs were wiggled, and strands were removed. I was disappointed. I grabbed one of last year’s colorful icicle lights and wrapped a bush in that. It wasn’t great, but it gave some balance to the yard, and I can replace it.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with our lights. I may add a few more strands to the bushes, we’ll see. I think it looks pretty good the way it is. In fact I like it a lot. I’m just glad we don’t live one street over. On the block behind us the amount of Christmas decorating is insane. People were up on their roofs (on two story homes) messing with their lights. Yards are full of inflatables and handmade wooden cut outs and lights, lights, lights! There are exactly three houses on the entire block that aren’t festooned with brightly lit holiday displays, and it’s not even December 1st yet. I’m curious to see if those houses continue to stay unlit or if they join the rest of the block. The amount of pressure to put up a great display must be insane. I’m happy with my little display, it brightens up our home and puts me in a happy holiday mood.

What about you? Do you decorate with lights? Inside or out, or both? I would love to hear about your lights and your neighborhood. Is it like mine? Mine is crazy for Christmas, and I kind of like it.