The Nostalgia and Melancholy of Christmas Lights
Christmas lights are absolutely beautiful, I’m not sure you can find many people who take real issue with them.
Add in some Christmas music and you’ve got yourself a veritable magical Christmas setting- as if from a movie. Downtown Macon is a great example, complete with music from the amazing Macon Pops.
Prior to the giant display in our downtown, the only other thing that came close for my family was set up at the Chick Fil A on Tom Hill- where you could drive through, pick up some food, and listen to Christmas music through your radio set to a certain station.
For me, the set up came with some amount of melancholy. I may have told this story before, and if I have I beg of you to forgive me, but Christmas lights can often bring about that emotion for me. I can remember my children being quite small, in the middle of divorcing their father, and driving to those Christmas lights on a Sunday. It had to be a Sunday because the restaurant was closed, but the lights and music were still on. Other cars were parked there as well, taking in their glow.
I was with my children, but alone. That was often the case for us, even when they were itty bitty I can remember being on maternity leave with my youngest and their father coming home- tired, wanting to nap, and not wanting to hear crying children. So I would pack them up into my car and drive- through so many neighborhoods. I would have a few bottles, a change of clothes for each of them, blankets, snacks, and my computer. Sometimes I would park and they would nap, and I would write or work on a column (I was writing for magazines along with working full time). Sometimes I would look at houses and wonder if the people inside were happy, and wonder what that must be like.
Driving to see the Christmas lights at Chick Fil A would bring about a similar emotion. Their father would often come by my parents, where I was living, to say his thoughts on the matter of our impending divorce- whether invited by me or not. I wanted nothing more than peace, and the season of the Christ child coming to Earth is a symbol of that. And so I would go to the lights and their symbol of hope.
Today my children dance among the cascading, twinkling lights and sings the lyrics of the songs around them. Christmas is nothing more than a magical time. I hope to keep that magic alive for them as long as I can. They deserve it.
Love to all y’all,
Molly
