Bright lights and nativity scenes tell story of Christmas
When I put up Christmas lights this year, I made sure to use the kind of lights that reminded me of what I saw as a kid, driving down neighborhoods oohing and aahing through the back windows of the family car. You know the kind: big, multi-colored, egg-shaped lights.
Every Christmas, dad would drive us four kids through the streets of our small town. They were organized squares where alphabet avenues intersected with numbered streets. The houses were close to each other, and during those days, mostly lit in celebration of the season.
When you are a poor kid, just driving around and seeing bright lights in the shapes of reindeer and snowmen is something worthwhile.
I grew up in a single-wide trailer. One long rectangle with only a swamp cooler sitting on it to give it some character. Mom didn’t put up lights at Christmastime. Instead, at the center of every window, sat a single candle. Since then, no matter what house she has lived in, the candles are up at this time of year.
There is beauty in simplicity. There is also beauty in gaudiness. And there is no better time of the year to go a little over the top. To take time to dig through dusty boxes in the garage. To take out your frustration in untangling endless green cords. To realize that each year you need to add something a little more than you had last year.
I like those kinds of houses, the gaudy kind. They are not for me, but they are fun to drive around and see. I’m more the in-between kind. Big lights on the window, but small tree inside. There is one thing that I add to my Christmas decoration collection each year, a nativity scene.
I have big ones and small ones. Some of them light up, and some of them don’t. Though they are all slightly different, in the most important ways, they are the same. They depict a scene of a miraculous night and tell the story that has been retold for generations.
The figurines represent visitors who traveled from afar to bring gifts in adoration. Sometimes there is a camel and a baby lamb. Also, a family. A mother who was chosen because she had found favor with God and an earthly father described as a righteous man. At the center a baby boy who would be called many things, among them Emmanuel, God with us.
The nativity scenes are a perfect accompaniment to the lights and the tree. The modern and the old. The meaningful and the decorative. A lot of things come together at Christmastime. The tradition and the wonder. The warm feelings of yesteryear and the bright hope for the new year.
I think of these things every year when I take out my big-bulbed Christmas lights. The kind that were up at my grandfather’s house. The kind that reminds me of special family times driving down familiar neighborhoods with my brothers.
Four wide-eyed kids, pointing and smiling through car windows. Lights reflected on our faces before we got home to that single candle on each bedroom windowsill. A reminder that on that dark night long ago, a light was turned on for all the world to see. A light that still shines for us today.
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Abe Villarreal writes about life and culture in America. He can be reached at abevillarreal@hotmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Everyday Observations: Bright lights and nativity scenes tell story of Christmas
