Saturday, December 08, 2007

Photo Hunt: Long


This week's theme is "long," so in continuing with my Christmas decorations series, I'm posting a shot of a long strand of Christmas lights.

When I was a kid, my Dad LOVED having a ton of lights. I think the tree was about the only thing he actually liked about Christmas, and it had to be just covered in lights and tinsel. We lived in a very cramped apartment, so stringing up the lights took up the entire living room and part of the dining room too. My sister and I would tiptoe through the long strands of blinking, twinkling or just shining lights, checking for bulbs that weren't working. Then would come the actual placing on the tree part. We'd form a line, holding out the whole strand so it didn't get tangled with any of the others, with Dad wrapping it around the tree just so. It had to be done perfectly, you see. No single light could be out of place. By the time the lights were all up, the tree would look like it couldn't possibly have room for ornaments, but we'd pile those on as well. That was mostly left to the girls though. Mamie would place the lowest ornaments, I'd take the middle and Mom would get the stuff that needed to be up high. Then Mame and I would be off to bed and Mom would rearrange the ornaments so that there weren't any glaring gaps or clumps, and dad would cover the whole thing in two or three boxes of tinsel.

My tree these days is a bit different. We only have three strands of lights, quite a bit fewer ornaments (we haven't been collecting them for 20+ years!) and no tinsel as it's just too tempting for the dogs. It's not quite the same, but it still holds that spark of Christmas wonder. I know it's really Christmastime when I see the hubby start laying out those strands of lights!

Stay tuned for more Christmas memories tomorrow as the Blog Ninjas present Mystery Topic Challenge #5, and more photo fun next week with the theme of "small."

12 comments:

Daisy said...

What a sweet story. I think when it comes to strands of Christmas tree lights, the longer the better! Our tree came out of a box. I do not know how it grows in there though.

Siani said...

That's a great pic for this week's theme, and such a lovely story to go with it. Have a wonderful weekend!

My LONG pics are up at Siani's Pot-Pourri.

2nd Cup of Coffee said...

Beautiful pic and story.

Jan said...

I love the way each family has its own traditions that the kids remember always. And then when they get married, they start their own traditions, just a little different from what they grew up with.

Natalie said...

That's a cool picture, I love lights too! :)

My LONG picture is up too! :)

LivG said...

Great photo! I'd love to see a tree like you described in your story.

JO said...

that's the kind of lights we have on our tree.

happy photo hunt.

Pam Hoffman said...

When my daughter was growing up, and I was engaged to Donald, the two of them couldn't seem to get into the same holiday spirit as I did during the season.

My daughter is grown and in the Navy and I'm now with Jeff who absolutely ADORES decorating for the holidays.

We kind of go crazy, and tinsel? There are probably about 8-10 boxes we use and reuse every year. Yeah, sometimes it gets into a cat we don't have anymore but it generally came out. ;)

They say that the average American Christmas Tree has 75 ornaments. They haven't been to OUR house, I can tell you that!

Whatever you do for your holidays, really and truely 'get into' it.

There are few times when we can go that crazy and be kids again in an approved way.

By all means, add more tinsel if you can!

Pam Hoffman
http://seminarlist.blogspot.com

Tom said...

Your entry is appropriate for the Christmas season. Nice story too.

Rach said...

That's a great picture and i love how you told the story behind it as well! :-)

Courtney said...

Such a great story and photo.

http://amomspeaks.com

Anna said...

Wow is sure a long lights. Very nice picture. Mine is up too:
Every Beat Of My Heart

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