Lights in Postcards 4

At dinner time, the sky was still covered in scattered clouds. Coming home from a late meeting, the world was dark and cold but not wet. We had made that extra effort in the morning taking the boxes down from the bedroom attic. All the boxes marked red, all the boxes filled with things for the lights came down stairs. G began taking the lights off the balconies.

He discovered lights a few years ago, and each year he’s added a few more items to his light cache. First there were big lights…really big. Then regular sized, old style lights, and now LED blue and white icicles to hang both top and bottom on each balcony. This year he added a blue laser light that scattered the front of the condo with myriads of tiny blue dots. As a final fillip, three blue blanket lights covered the hedge by the front door.

We are blue. He likes blue. He also has to take them down, but now onto reels. That makes the whole chore easier.

We were going to take them down next weekend after Christmas was over, but a series of incoming storms encouraged both of us to move them out of harm’s way. While he was rolling up the lights, I took much of Christmas down and boxed it up for the year putting art up where the crèche lived. I don’t do much indoors….no great garland loops, no motorized Santa’s. There is a Mexican cut-out tin crèche and the tree.

The tree can come down next week after another test for George.

• Himself: Wishing it all was over.
• Herself: Wishing his family read my blog so they would know what was happening with their brother and uncle.
• Reading: From Crais to Barr to Arthur Gelb’s “City Room.”
• Gratitudes: That I can get here or there no matter what.