To all the Seattlites with twinkling holiday lights covering their rooftops, bushes, window frames, balconies, and porches: Please leave them up.
It’s just days after Christmas, and I’ve already seen so many people begin to pull down their festive displays. And I get it! If you don’t take them down now, when will you? December will roll into January, will roll into February, will roll into March, and then you’ll be that weirdo on the block with a half-filled inflatable snowman clinging to its last threads among the tulips and cherry blossoms. People want a fresh start for the New Year, a clean slate.
But our future is bleak. Here in the city, the sun will continue to set around 5 pm for at least another month. We’re weeks away from four years of another Trump presidency. Oof.
So please keep illuminating the sky when Mother Nature can’t. Please keep our sidewalks shimmering in one of the rainiest months of the year. We have so little light—literally and figuratively. Please leave them up. (You can take down the inflatable snowman, though.)
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I feel for Anonymous, I really do, because I also enjoy the bright, festive lights. But around here, we have to take advantage of any dry day we have after the holidays to get the outdoor lights and decorations down and packed away. We took ours down on New Year’s Eve day while it was dry and we were off work, otherwise it may have been several more weeks at least before we had another opportunity.
I believe in alternative holidays.
A lot of folks have TOTALLY forgotten of Epiphany, or the concept of 12 Days of Christmas, the old religious festival going that long. Nordics, however, have codified it: Finland has a BIG deal, still of citizens sitting next to radios and TVs, seeing a bishop pronounce the Christmas Peace — double indemnity for crimes, even.
The Nordics like St Knut’s Day — time was, basically mummers would come to your door, demanding the very-last scraps of your holiday fare, including beer. That’s 13 January. Some even have a party and get their friends to help them take down the decorations. Good plan.
Orthodox Christmas, of course, was two days ago, 7 January. Polite to at least leave ’em up that long. And so much effort is spent putting them up, fighting the dark to do it.
Considering how not-representative-of-Christmas a lot of the lights are, the use of LEDs, and our climate, I really think waiting ’til the edge of Lent is totally fine for a lot of ’em. This year, that’s 5 March.
It’s dark. Kinda’ dreary. Lights really help. Thanks ever to those who pick their own days to get them down.
But yeah, enough with the reindeer, snowmen.
AGREED!
All the lights, all the time until at least March 1st. February is a brutal month to get through, too. We need all the lights we can get through the darkest months.