Bringing holiday cheer to a shortened season

Because of how the holidays fall, we have the shortest number of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Yes, we have one less week of shopping.

But more importantly, we have less time to enjoy the holiday songs, less time to take in the holiday lights, and less time to bask in the joy of the season. On the other hand, maybe fewer days will make us appreciate it more. I know the short turn-around time between the two holidays has affected how I’m approaching the season.

I was going to include a picture of the holiday lights at my house but I must admit that it’s not my finest Christmas lights moment.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love Christmas lights. If there is an extra set lying around, I will hang them. If someone is giving away light they no longer use, I will take them. If you say that corner needs lighting, I will find some.

There simply cannot be too many lights. I take pride in covering my pine trees from top to bottom, outlining the entire roofline and displaying a Nativity scene, complete with a hovering star at the appropriate time.

But as I prepared to hang the lights at my house on one of the few nice days we’ve had recently, I realized that most of the strings of lights from last year didn’t work. Strand after strand refused to turn on as I tested them with the extension cord. So many failed that I started to doubt the cords, the outlets on the side of my house, and even the electrical wire running from the road to our house. Maybe no one else in our neighborhood realized that our power was out.

In reality, a majority of the strings of lights had been nibbled on sometime during the summer, most likely from the glut of mice that have taken up residence on our farm. The role of farm cats, who want to be indoor cats, is for another time but let’s just say I may be in need of new felines soon.

After sorting through all my lights, I was left with three strands of mini-lights, two of which were a faint blue, which must have been on clearance at some point because you can’t even tell they are on when it is dark; one string of those icicle lights that were popular sometime in the last decade, but aren’t practical for anything but gutters and require dozens to accomplish a good look; and two strings of those lights meant to cover a bush but could never be fully stretched out to cover more than a foot in either direction and just usually ends up looking like a big blob wherever it is placed.

As I stood on my front lawn with strings in piles of either “working” or “not bothering to fix,” I had a decision to make: buy new ones, put up the few I had or not put up any at all. Realizing that the lights would not be up long and being too cheap to buy more lights at full price, I resorted to just using what I had on hand.

Hanging them in the daylight, I took a step back and reassured myself that they weren’t that bad. After all, any lights are good lights – that is until my husband and I came home that evening in the dark.

As we neared our driveway and the one lone tree came into view, I quickly realized that the lights took on a different appearance at night. Asking my husband what his first thought was upon seeing the lights, we both came to the same conclusion: Somehow I had constructed an over-sized string bikini on my 14-foot pine tree with my Christmas lights, complete with a top and bottom of the swimsuit.

Did that image compel me to take the lights down? Not at all. After all, they’ll only be up for a few weeks. I don’t have any more lights to fix it. And it makes me giggle as I pull up to my house and see my pine tree in its summer finest.

As we head into the thick of this shortened holiday season, may we all take a few moments to be thankful for our friends and family, those far and near. May we all say a few words of thankfulness and gratefulness for both the small and large gifts in our lives. May we appreciate all the things that go right in our lives as well as those not-so-right like a bikini-clad pine tree.

Speaking of lights, there are more and more lights in downtown McCook.

Thanks to Chamber Director Sarah Schneider and her volunteers who have been installing holiday lights throughout Norris Park and along Norris Avenue. Linda Graff has been placing lights along B Street, along with other volunteers from Beautify McCook. And Great Plains Communication helped light up the poles along Santa Claus Lane.

And a special shout out to Joel and Taryn Arterburn and their volunteer crew as well as my husband, Jon, for working on the holiday lights along McCook’s downtown skyline. Animals and people have had their way with a few strands, so they have been climbing onto the rooftops to make repairs, at sometimes treacherous heights.

Hopefully, both sides of Norris Avenue will be in full working order for the McCook Chamber’s Noel of Norris festivities on Dec. 7. Even if there are a few lights out or sections not lit up, thanks to everyone who is working to bring holiday cheer to our communities regardless of how long the season lasts.