Monday Morning Question

Krissy asked us if we liked to ride around looking at Christmas lights when we were kids and if we still liked to do it today.  Well, I could have just written yes and yes in her comments and be done with it.

But not Penny!  Nope!   Gotta tell a story.

I grew up in and around the city of Pasadena, California.  As I have told you before, my mom loved to get "lost".  I call it a serendipity now.  When I was very small, mom would take us up the hill to a place called Chaney Flats or the hills above Altadena.  She would tell us we were lost, but she always managed to park high enough up those hill to be able to see the lights of the whole Los Angeles basin.  There was no smog yet, no smog alerts, just twinkling lights before us.

In Altadena, there is a street they call Christmas Tree Lane.  There are conifers that line both sides of the street and reach way up to the sky.  It's an amazing two blocks of trees.  At Christmastime, the city and private parties would work to cover the trees completely with lights.  Ahh, I loved that!  It was like being in a wonderland where stars had many colors.  Before I became a teen, the town decided to just cover the front of the trees.  There really is a difference.

There was a housing development in Pasadena called Hastings Ranch, where my mom and I would go every year to see the homes.  One curving block had little stars in all the parkways.  They decorated not only their homes, but the parkways as well.  You do know parkways don't you?  Well, anyway the stars would light up as you drove by.  This was a special tradition in that development that one of the conditions of sale of a home there was that the new owner continue with the tradition.  They had Candy Cane lane which went several blocks.  The homes were decorated so beautifully!  Seeing the lights was always a Christmas favorite for me.  I wonder if the tradition is history now?

As I have gotten older, my love for decorated homeshas not waned.  I can go alone or with others and "ooh" and "ahh" still escape my mouth as I see the lights adorning each home. 

I love the celebration of Christmas.  It has always meant the celebration of the birth of Christ to me.  A long time ago when I was a kid, there wasn't any controversy and often Jews and Christians alike would come together to celebrate.  I did this with my friend Mady whose home was decorated with lights and a Menorah.  I listened to her parents tell the story of the Miracle of Lights. We sang songs that sounded foreign to me, but I gladly sang along to learn how they celebrated. 

Then Mady would come to my house to share Christmas with me.  She would listen as my mom read the Christmas story and sing our carols with us.  Mady and I would exchange small gifts at each celebration.

I still have wonder at Christmastime.  I never want to forget Who I am celebrating whether this is the actual time of His birth or not.  I like the lights, films and stories about Jesus and films and stories about Santa Claus and the other characters we associate with Christmas.  I love to see a Menorah shining in a window.  I love to hear the story again. 

Enjoy the lights.  Relish in their glow.  I will relish as well the glow of the Eternal Light.