Christmas Lights--Still?

If you drive down my block or any other block in Garden city this time of year you will see wreaths on every front door. Half of the wreaths are in the shape of a heart, and the other half are evergreen with a red velvet bow.  50% of the residents in Garden City are still stuck in Christmastime.

Weather has nothing to do with it—this winter has been warm. It would take little climate related annoyance to remove the decorations. Nope. It’s a cultural thing--a quirk of the town.  Half of the population leaves their Christmas wreaths up until Easter. And I have gotten used to it.  

But the thing that grates on my nerves this deep into February is not the yellowing pine boughs or rotting pine cones adorning the front door—it is the twinkling lights. I am annoyed by people who have not yet pulled the plug.

It’s time to tell those people that shutting off the timer on their Christmas lights is overdue. Because although little white lights conform to the Garden City’s dress code—the pass expired on January 6^th—Epiphany.

So. If you are an offender, yank the unwanted cord out of the socket right now. There isn’t an acute need to remove the lights from the shrubbery, but the electrical supply must be cut. And if you know of an offender, sneak onto their property and pull the plug out for them. Make the assumption that if the offender is too lazy to disconnect their own cord, they will be too lazy to reconnect it for spite. And if God is good—you may even receive a thank you from that neighbor---and not a summons from the Garden City police for trespassing.