Christmas Lights

I love Christmas lights. The ones on my tree blink in a rhythm of colors. Off — on — off — on. Lights blaze from rooftops and lawns all over my town, and I drive slowly after dark reveling in the Santas, the sleighs, and Rudolf’s red nose. I light Christmas candles and watch the flickering flames. I remember my mother telling about old-fashioned Christmas trees lit with real candles. What a sight that must have been!

At my church, the walkways are lined with paper sacks weighted with sand and sheltering small candles. They are lanterns leading the way to a chapel filled with red poinsettias and more candlelight. At the end of the service, we hold individual candles stuck through paper lace doilies and light them, one from another, as we process out into the night.

I look into the winter sky and see Jupiter and Venus and search for the belt of Orion and think of that star that led the way so many years ago. I breathe deeply of the fresh night air as we sing Silent Night, Holy Night, All is calm, All is bright.

And I know that the brightest Christmas light of all is the light that shines within each of us, the light that comes from joy at our Savior’s birth. The light that continues throughout the year. The light that burns with an everlasting flame. That’s my favorite Christmas light.

Contributed by Marilyn Donahue