I Saw The Light
A Gay Opinion 11/10/02
by R. A. Melos
I enjoy holiday decorations as much as the next fellow, but just when did every
holiday get its own unique string of lights to make the holiday more festive?
I'm not complaining, mind you, I just wondered when this trend of stringing
lights for every occasion came about?
I remember as a child, my father stringing lights on a huge pine tree in our
front yard. For many years the lights were of the 4 watt "nite lite"
bulb variety, cleverly colored in the four prime colors of red, blue, yellow
and green. These lights seemed to last forever, and only varied in color when
they began to fade, giving the red either a pink or slightly orange hue. They
were big bulky bulbs which I will forever associate with Christmas, and the
occasional Mexican restaurant in which I've eaten. Of course the restaurant
also had giant cement cacti out in front, but I'll talk about lawn decorations
another time.
The holiday lights, when I was a child, were almost entirely associated with
Christmas. They did eventually go from those large bulbs to the now more prevalent
miniature bulbs in strings of thirty, fifty, one hundred, or one hundred and
fifty. These cute little lights could also convert from steady light to blinking
lights, although my father was sure the blinking caused a greater pull on the
electricity causing our holiday electric bills to be higher.
It wasn't too many years ago when I began to notice lights around Halloween.
Now they were cleverly shaped as ghosts and pumpkins, and the odd skeleton or
witch on a broomstick. I was duly impressed by someone's creative notion, and
went about my business. It wasn't long after my encounter with the cute shaped
Halloween lights that I encountered heart shaped lights for Valentine's Day.
Oh yes, the creative mind and the financial mind had melded together, and apparently
the thought of allowing a holiday, even one which carries morose overtones for
some, to go by without an acknowledgment of light seemed unthinkable. So the
heart shapes were joined by Cupids, and Cupids shooting arrows, and hearts with
arrows through them, and even broken hearts.
Next up were the shamrocks and leprechauns, and little top hats with shamrocks
on them, and pots of gold, and Irish flags, and harps, all for the celebration
of St. Patrick's Day. It wasn't enough to have green beer, corned beef, boiled
potatoes and cabbage for the day, but the advertising and marketing geniuses
just had to add lights to this celebration as well. So be it. I could live with
the cute lights.
It came as no surprise to me when cute illuminated bunnies, chicks, colored
eggs, chicks breaking out of colored eggs, and crosses and lilies for the more
religious amongst us, appeared for Easter. I still don't think of it as Easter
until I've bitten the ears off a white chocolate rabbit, but the festive lights
do make for a nice touch.
I admit I groaned when I saw the little American flag lights, and the strings
of red, white and blue lights appear around the 4th of July. The small Lady
Liberty and Liberty Bell lights were, in my opinion, taking things a bit too
far. I love my country, but I draw the line at stringing up miniature Statue
Of Liberty lights. I admit I did almost purchase the patriotic sayings light
set, with little bulbs of plastic in the shape of the words "Give me liberty,
or give me death," and "I regret that I have but one life to give
for my country."
At some point I became slightly addicted to the festive light craze. Admittedly
I didn't need to buy the cute little dreidel and menorah shaped lights, but
I felt I should acknowledge my Jewish ancestry, and what better way than to
string up festively decorative lights?
I rapidly grew accustom to the summer party lights in the shapes of palm trees,
and flamingos, and beach umbrellas. I actually looked forward to the different
shaped lights I could find in the stores. I even began to look forward to the
less noted seasonal changes, like the Autumn leaf light set. A string of lights
shaped like leaves in hues of reds, golds, and vaguely browns. The first day
of school was cause for the cute little school bus and red apple shaped lights
to go up.
I even became more of a sports enthusiast with little basketball shaped lights,
baseball shaped lights, and cute little football shapes alternated with the
NFL logo shaped letter lights. Heck, I even started celebrating bass fishing
season with lights shaped like fish on hooks.
Well, Thanksgiving Day is coming up. I've taken down the Canadian maple leaf
shaped lights I had up for Canadian Thanksgiving, and already placed my festive
Halloween ghosts and pumpkins in their boxes for next year. Now I'll break out
the little Native American and Pilgrim shaped lights, and the really adorable
turkey shaped lights with the tails that blink, and show my festive appreciation
for another brightly lighted holiday.
I guess I've succumb to the festive light rituals just like most of my neighbors.
As they say on Star Trek: The Next Generation, "resistance is futile."
Hey, there's a light set I haven't seen yet. I wonder if they have little starship
and pointed ear light sets?