PROFESSOR. SCHOLAR. AUTHOR.
Christmas in August

Christmas in August

A few years back, we spent an enjoyable few days staying at the Albuquerque home of some long-time friends. One evening, Tom — a stalwart friend since middle school — took me out onto his back patio one evening and hit a switch. At once, the patio was awash in the heart-warming glow of Christmas lights that had been strung around the patio roof.

It was really cool, and I wanted it.

Of course, we don’t really have a patio like they do, and most of the time it’s too bloody buggy here at El Cid to use one if we had it.

The solution? Bring the lights indoors. Into the house. That, I figured, would be really cool.

I’ve been wanting to do this project ever since, but I also didn’t want to spend much money on it.  As with the new tent trailer (or the Commander, or …), this was a patience project: we figured out exactly what we wanted (in this case enough commercial-grade white-strand lights to encircle the family room) and then waited, waited, and waited some more until we found what we wanted at a price we could afford.

I’m pleased, then, to announce that the lights have arrived in our house.  Install took about an hour (we have crown moulding, so most of it is just tucked up).  Now when you flick a switch, you get an illuminated gloriousness that just instinctively makes you happy.  Here’s a shot of one corner to give you a feel for the thing (don’t mind the mess):

It's Christmas in August! Happy Hannukwanzmastide, everybody!

Am I the only one who can’t help but smile at that?