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Louise's Utopia: Taking Down Those Christmas Lights When Is It Gonna Happen?

Writer's picture: Coteau Valley FarmCoteau Valley Farm

Christmas light past due to be taken down

The other day I stood on the deck, while the cold blustery gale-like winds ripped through my hair, and I wondered when I would be taking down the Christmas lights. This year the deck was the only place where we placed outside lights. Now, the once pretty and sentimental look of colorful lights appears as tacky old plastic things well overdue to come down. I guess they still look as pretty as they did on the first day they were put up, but somehow they lose their magic after the Epiphany. The problem I've decided is that at my house there's no HOA to enforce the "taking down part," so it goes unchecked and they are still hanging up! I suppose we will tear them down when the weather changes to warm. I am sure that is exactly what the city folks are thinking too. They think, let us wait until it's warm, so our fingers don't end up, frost-bitten! It's a fine decision for some. It's fine for me to take that route and to leave our lights up, indefinitely. It's understandable, and it makes sense. Still, it drives me crazy when I drive through those beautiful, neighborhoods in the city, and I think: Oh, wow! Do they still have their lights up, that is jacked up! Shocking really! Christmas is over and are they too lazy to get out there and take those lights down? They are ruining their neighborhood! That is what people think when they see those houses! Not mine though, because they don't see mine. Out here in the middle of nowhere, nobody can see me brush all the snow off the lights on my deck, and relax in late January. My lights will presumably come down in the spring. I live in the country man, so who really, cares? I'm out here in the boondocks, but it is unacceptable in the city! Everyone knows that! After all, all eyes are on those outdated lights in the city when left up too long. Gosh! It's one of those necessary double standards of country life. The city must look prim and proper but country folks can celebrate Christmas (secularly) until Easter and beyond! The new era of decorating freedom. This freedom is found only in the country! This is like the concept of those city guys who are (just working) on the car in their city driveway... Everyone is thinking: is he a total clown? He looks so tacky dumping that oil on the lawn in his driveway. Can't that guy call a mechanic? In the country, a person is welcome to leave their entire collection of vehicles that date back from a time well before their birth, until somewhere near their death, on their driveway. It's because, the country guy is hard-working and has to do all his work on his vehicles because, ain't nobody else gonna do it for him, and city guys should know better! He can call a mechanic and get a tow! I think it's called hypocrisy, I'm not positive. Either way, a lot of people are leaving up the "Christmas lights" until a good time comes along to pull them down, I call it, county progressiveness. I may get away with never getting the lights off the deck. And that is okay, Christmas will be back, at least for me! But, don't you even think of it Mr. HOA! I'm not kidding! When the fourth of July comes I will be able to stand out on that deck in the blistering heat, pull those lights off my deck, and do it heroically! I will then chuck them into a box they will look nice and neat. I will pat myself on the back it's a job well done! Then I will watch the fireworks and start dreaming about putting up Christmas lights again! Maybe not so early in the year! However, I wish my deck was akin to how those houses in the city should be...well-kept. I wish my fantasy HOA would come shovel off my deck of all the snow, take the lights down every year, and then get lost on the prairie. But they won't, and I do not appreciate the HOA, anyway. They are meant to keep the neighborhoods up to par, but they don't end up doing anything of the sort! They collect high monthly fees and cause a lot of inconvenience for lazy people like myself. Everyone in the neighborhood, in the end, will do exactly as I do here in the country. A little thing called: I will get on it when it is convenient for me which might be never! So, I guess, to answer my question, I am not sure when the lights will come down! Maybe I will go door to door and ask some city folks when they plan on taking their lights down. I know these days some folks in the city have their lights installed to never come down off their roofs. Permanent seasonal lights that change colors with the holiday. I'll do that too. In many city houses Christmas lights are strategically placed on the home in hopes that nobody will notice that they are permanently attached. However, it is very easy to see, and they are not fooling anyone. I can see them, and so can anyone who looks close enough. Maybe I will use the idea, of leaving my lights up this year, and act like I paid a lot of money to have them placed there because they are forever lights and it's the new "In thing" for lights. Mine are still up, anyhow. I tell myself that they don't bother me and they don't. That's that.

On a side note, if you have not read it yet, on Wednesdays I am posting a blog on the reading of Wuthering Heights. I have never read the book, but I'm looking forward to what happens as it is very...well interesting. I will be blogging each Wednesday for each successive chapter. It is still early in the book, and we are going onto only the second week this Wednesday, so it is not too late to join. Please check it out and forward it to your friends, if you haven't already. I would love to have a large group of readers to discuss the book with! It's fun to get the ideas and insights of friends, so please comment. I enjoy writing these blogs, but I need to find a way to grow my readers. I think I can do it, there is a process, and I am slowly learning. Please help me, by telling others about the blog, and forward it onward!

Till then!





























































































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Jan 28
Rated 5 out of 5 stars.

🎄in July lol

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Ha! Yes, I will leave it up for a Christmas in July Party.

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