The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

It is time to get the Christmas lights out and up. It is a little early for them to be on but it is so much easier to get them up when it is warm.

When Mother and I moved into our Sixth Street home in Havre I knew I wanted to have some privacy at the front of the house so that if I wanted to go outside and drink a martini on a Friday night I would not be seen. So we made a wide sidewalk, almost a terrace running from the front door to the driveway. Then we made a high berm and planted blue spruces all the way along the front of the house. Little did I know that around Christmas, those evergreens decorated would just be an outstanding display of Christmas lights for the neighborhood. A neighbor kept giving me more red and green Christmas lights to add to the display. They are beautiful and need to be up now.

I never did drink martinis in front of the house as we ended up having to build a completely new terrace in the back of the house as well and that seemed like a much more likely place to drink in peace and quiet.

I filled the back yard with evergreens too as I wanted mother to be able to look out the window and see the forest like she could at Lakeside and Somers. That turned out well too and with the addition of small lights thrown over the evergreen trees in the back, that display is even better than in the front.

Too bad no one can see them except someone coming to the house. But that is all right too as I enjoy looking at them out the dining room window as much as I have ever enjoyed any Christmas lights.

So, it is time once again to get the lights out and on the trees . Just another way of saying Merry Christmas to everyone going by after dark.