My color choice for Christmas lights is white. Pure and holy white. It all started with my mom, and her penchant for the beautiful.
My mom has a very artistic eye for decorating. I like to think that while I may not have much in the way of monetary resources, I have inherited part of her artistic flair, and am able to pull off an acceptable decor.
I remember how she decorated the outside of our home for Christmas, every year. A solitary (electric) white candle in every front and side window, and a spotlight shining on the wreath on our front door. I remember how that looked as my dad and I drove up the 500 foot driveway after a trying day of high school/junior high (he, as teacher... me, as student).
It was like seeing heaven.
I knew that once we got inside, the house would be bursting with sound and smell and the hustle and bustle of trying to get 3 other children (which became 4, then 5) ready for dinner. And as the oldest, (and 7 years older than #2) I had no small part to play. All the cares of the day simply had to be left at the door...
Now that warm, inviting feeling of pure white lights encircling and enveloping a home is something I like to re-create for my own house. And I, just like my mom, wrinkle my nose at over-done, over-colored outdoor Christmas displays... and DH laughs at me in much the same way my dad puzzled over my mother's adamant opinions. But our men wisely know their place in these matters, and dutifully hang the white lights, and the wreaths, positioning the spotlights just so. And praise and compliment the effects.
To those of you who prefer the multi-colored hoopla... more power to ya'. Finally, I think it's what one grows up with. Like myself, I think my mother may have preferred the simplicity and serenity of white because life with 6 children (or 5, in my case) under one roof is hardly ever, if ever, simple or serene.
The "colorful chaos" of our lives exists in and around these many children and distinct personalities.
It's all the color I can handle.
:)
7 comments:
We have a white vs. colored light discussion every year. I like white, the children like colored. We were supposed to alternate every year but the last three years have been full of color, much to the delight of my children...which is why we do what we do anyway, right... to delight the children. I figure there will be plenty of time for me to have it my way when they are all off making their own way in the world. By then, I think I will miss the color.
We have white lights on our tree and outside (well, outside in the years Husband chooses to hang them). I also love the simplicity. And they seem elegant to me.
White! Only white! And I've brainwashed my kids, I guess, into being white light snobs. I like a colonial looking Christmas decor and I'm offended (in the sensory way)by the garish. Lots of candlelight and because candles on the tree wouldn't really be wise, then we use white lights because that's the closest we can get. I hope my kids have memories like yours, Megan, and that they have nothing but nice things to say about how pretty our house looks at Christmas. And if they are secretly wishing they had colored lights, well, then, it's probably not the only thing they'll do differently in their own homes.
Your tree and your room look cozy, elegant and VERY inviting, my Dear Oldest! I had to chuckle at your post...Dad still will drive by the homes that are "decked out" in every color under the sun and start ribbing me about my taste in Christmas decor! :) I simply smile and acknowledge his attempt...deep down I know he loves my choice of clear white purity! After all, I am the "heart" of our home and I know he knows my attempt at "making Christmas" for our family is a very real part of who I am...SOOO today I found an Eastern Euopean Deli right here in C.S. that makes their own kielbasa and pierogie for our Vigilia!! I am VERY excited to pay them a visit this week...Next year when you all come, we will do it all again...happy to know that the memories we made are still remembered....and that you are busy making your own with your family! LOVE YOU ALL....
I always loved white lights when I was a kid b/c we would drive around Westover Hills (huge and lovely mansions) and many of the houses were decorated (in my child's eyes) like fairy homes. They were just so beautiful! My dad, on the other hand, always liked the colorful candy-land look - he still makes the flag pole look like a candy cane every year, puts a Santa kneeling to Jesus AND an outdoor nativity scene in the front yard. We love to see those things when we drive up to the house these days, but I don't think any of us do the same for decorating. Fact is, if he had solicited the opinions of all of his children there couldn't have been any decorations at all for lack of agreement and the assuredness of hurt feelings because one child's choice was selected over another child's. But when we all go home for Christmas, we all feel the same excitement and "hominess" of our family way of celebrating. And I am so grateful that my parents loved to welcome Jesus with such joy that it overflowed from inside our home (and their hearts) to the outside - just like it does in their everyday lives.
We do let the kids hang colored lights in their own rooms... so hopefully they won't blame me too much for my white light obsession!
LOL
:)
I grew up with white, but chose color for my tree.
HOWEVER, next year I will be buying some new lights and I think WHITE will be just lovely.
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