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Tropical Depression: Small Town Holiday Decorations or "You Light Up My Life"
This is my third December living in a quaint town in New England after being away for about 20 years. I don’t recall much about the local holiday decorations from my childhood, but I have already taken note of the houses around town with their own traditions of lighting things up.
The Shooting Star - Every year these folks suspend a glowing star-shaped assembly of lights from their wind turbine. It even has long trails of lights so that, if you see it out of the corner of your eye through the trees while you’re driving, it might look like it’s moving.
The Goose - Last year the owner of the farm stand up the road had a greenish glowing goose in an upstairs window until Feb 2. I became obsessed with the goose,having noticed it after Thanksgiving, wondering when it would disappear. Unfortunately it has not reappeared this year though I look for it every day. There will be much rejoicing if it does appear.
Santa at the Helm - This 2 ft tall injector molded plastic santa figure used to sit in the wheel house of an out of commission fishing boat. Suddenly this year, even though the boat hasn’t moved, it is shrink-wrapped (standard boat protocol). Santa now stands at the prow outside of the plastic.
Sharp-Turn Pine - a simple display of large colored bulbs that spiral up a pine near a moderately dangerous corner. It’s a classic and lovely message of safety and indicates to me that home is only 2 minutes down the road.
Other Things in the Shape of a Tree - Well-stacked lobster pots, decked out with pine boughs and ribbons. This stands at the entrance to a local market and the first time I saw it (at night) I thought it was an enormous tree. That's how well done it is. I also saw a hay bale pyramid covered with ribbons; it was much smaller than the lobster pot tree but was a welcome sight in a corn field on my way to work.
New Entry!!!- Blooming Flowers - For most of the summer the farmers across the street sell their tasteful heirloom tomato plants from a tasteful little table in their tasteful driveway. Recently I’d noticed a weird bluish glow in their greenhouse but chalked it up to None of My Business (one of the principles this town was founded on). Tonight I noticed that the glow has moved outside and become two probably 6-feet tall “flowers” blooming in their field. It’s terrifically out of place in this land of quaint white window candles and red-ribbonned wreaths, but I couldn’t help but feel a surge of honest to goodness holiday cheer.
Hooray Electricity! Go USA!
Wishing you all peace and joy.
