The Parable of the Christmas Lights

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, once the excitement of approaching Christmas is over, how do we retain the Christmas spirit?”

Josh spoke thus:

A neighbor was remembering the holidays.

“What was the best,” the neighbor said, “Was the way everybody on our street used to put up lights.  Number six always had that giant natural fir that they used to put lights on.  One year they might use multicolored lights, the next, only blue, the next, natural white lights that looked like tiny stars.  But that fir was always lit.”

“I think the blue was always my favorite,” the other neighbor said.

“And number 19,” the first neighbor said, “They had that giant inflatable Santa in the lawn.  In the ice storm, Santa burst under the weight of the ice, and the next day, there was Santa on the lawn again.  Or maybe I should say, on the ice rink.  How they ever got that Santa out there without breaking their necks slipping on the ice, I’ll never know.”

“Or where they got another Santa in the middle of an ice storm,” the other neighbor said.

“Number 38,” the first neighbor continued, “Number 38 had those icicle lights.  They hung them on the eaves, they hung them on the window sills.  They even hung them on their cars when they parked their cars in the driveway.”

“During the ice storm, I never knew where the lights began and the ice ended,” the other neighbor said.

“I was amazed by the blinking lights in the windows of number 15,” the first neighbor said, “They were always timed somehow, so it looked like the red was jumping from one window to the next.”

“And the colors traced around the windows, as well,” the second neighbor said, “When they’d gotten around one window, they jumped to the next.”

“The house on the corner had those wreathes and candles in the windows,” the first neighbor said, “A sort of old-country look.  Just a single candle in each window.”

“Those electric candles that flicker like real flames,” the second neighbor said, “Understated and elegant.”

“And then everyone else did whatever came into their heads to do,” the first neighbor said, “No pattern, just color and lights and holidays.”

“There wasn’t a house that didn’t have lights,” the second neighbor said.

“Man I wish it was like that now,” the first neighbor said.

“It is like that now,” the second neighbor said, “We just described the holidays this year.”

“I know,” the first neighbor said, “But this year is over.  People will be taking their lights down.  Or at least not lighting them anymore.”

“It will be just as good next year,” the second neighbor said.

“I can’t wait for Christmas,” the first neighbor said.