Jessica Spengler on Christmas lights and neighbours:
When the sun goes down, I turn our Christmas lights on for us because they make our flat feel cozy. But I also turn them on for everyone else on the street, so when our neighbors look out their windows, they see something bright and pretty in the cold night. And when I look out my window and see the twinkling lights and candles and Christmas trees of our neighbors, I feel like they’re partially for us, too. We’re sending out little signals to say we’re here, and we know you’re there, and while we may all still be isolated and afraid, we see each other, and we care.
Comments
I was a curmudgeon towards this stuff until the previous U.S. election and subsequent insanity. Now - I see the tiny opportunities to bring and experience joy, light, and happiness into the world are a necessary counterbalance to the depressive inertia of the darkness of most everything else.
I put up Christmas lights this year for the first time in a very long while. It does feel somehow that it is connecting us to other people.
So true! I understand there are more lights than ever locally, and none to be bought. That’s a lot of caring!