Lights in the Darkness

I appreciate holiday lights when the nights are looooooong.

Sleigh and horse

I love these because they are beside a lake which reflects the colors.

Stagecoach and horses


This resort’s lake has ducks and swans that call it home. I was glad to catch a duck in a photo.

Sleigh, reindeer and a duck

We saw both the real swans silently swimming this afternoon.

Blurry Swans


It is important to focus on lights in darkness. Just as it is crucial to look for hope during periods of sadness.

Soldier guarding the gate


Look for the light!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FLOW in the glow

Kitchen Sinking Christmas Lighting

One of our family traditions is to ride around town looking at Christmas lighting and decorations. We found a new favorite this year.

We visited the known hotspots along the main streets. There are two streets with rows of giant, blow-up Santas with an occasional snowman. There is a neighborhood of assorted lighted balls hanging from the trees. We even found a street of blow-up nutcrackers in town.

We visited the usual yard near us with dozens of the old-type of plastic lighted figures. (I have posted on this one before.) The choir on the bleachers was missing this year, but the snowmen, ceramic look-alike trees, toy soldiers, teddy bears, angels and a nativity scene were present in the presentation.

My husband and son found our new favorite while looking for something else. That is how life works!

This neighborhood was developed in the hundreds of acres of nature that surrounded our home for decades. I was glad to see the sparsely populated development in the previous woodlands getting into the holiday spirit.

Several of the yards were over-the-top lit up. There was even a lighted herd of deer where a real herd probably bedded down back in the day. They had a good assortment of Santas and snowmen and lights of all colors strung across roofs and trees. Just when we were getting to the deadend of the road, we spotted a bright glow on a hill.

Wowza! The over-the-top yards got topped by the most ecclectic grouping of lighted figures ever. These folks did not stop with tradition!

There was a gingerbread house with two dancing cookies.

The tree in the middle of the yard held colorful lighted ornaments. There were several angels. The gold one had flapping wings. The lighted mailbox’s door opened and closed. There were cute teddybears here and there.

The giant word JOY was behind the tree and Merry Christmas was down in front. Big lighted candles and snowflakes were scattered about. These images were fancy versions of the expected holiday decor.

This should have been more than enough cheer to spread, but these folks were not done yet. They had more to say this holiday.

Front and center of the glowing menagerie stood the three stand-outs of the ensemble. A golden Statue of Liberty glistening beautifully was noticed first.

Beside Lady Liberty was the silver Eiffel Tower, and beside it was a big, glowing Ferris Wheel.

WOWZA!

There is a story here. I hope I get to hear it before I leave town. I will let you know if/ when I do. It is going to be difficult to stay away until I know what inspired such a display.

Merry Christmas readers. I hope you each have an over-the-top holiday with events full of twinkling lights and dancing cookies and liberty.

FLOW

Be the Light

My family ended our holiday with a trip to the White’s to see the lights.

It was the perfect ending.

This is no ordinary light display. It is over the top.

We could see the lights from several streets away.

Their yard is a beacon from the Interstate.

Colored lights flashed, white lights twinkled, stars sparkled.

There was even music tinkling in the background.

This trip was a bright spot in our darkened holiday.

I stood in their driveway, happy to be with my two friends.

I looked up and realized I was under the biggest tree of all.

Dizzy? I was too busy talking to focus. Surprise there.

It lit up the sky above me. I was surrounded in light and love.

Thanks to M and S for the most magical moment in 2020.

Be the light in someone’s darkness. Be the beacon that gets them through.

Let the lower lights be burning!

Send a gleam across the waves!

Some poor fainting, struggling seaman,

you may rescue, you may save.

(Hymn by P.P Bliss 1871)

HAPPY NEW YEAR from Flow and family and friends

The First Twinkle

If you want to see the magic as it appears, you must pause at dusk.

As the sunlight splits into its various colors and those fade and darken toward grey,

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there are moments of both light and darkness combined

that show the shape of things as they shadow.

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That is when lights give their first magical twinkle.

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I saw it all last night at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens in Belmont.

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I was there for the holiday lights, but got a glimpse of magic

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here and there among the gardens.

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Happy New Year

FLOWER