Lights Out

The people in what we’ve come to call “The Gingerbread House” do not have their Christmas lights on. This is a big deal because that’s the whole reason we call them The Gingerbread House. Not only is their house painted the exact color of gingerbread but they go all out on the lights so that, in the end, the roof and all the doors and windows are outlined like a gingerbread house. All the windows are the same color lights (green) and all the doors are red.

They also decorate every little pine tree with all colors of lights so it’s a regular gingerbread yard to go with the gingerbread house.

Did I mention they don’t have any lights on this year? When we drove by tonight on our way to dinner I noticed the lights weren’t there and immediately wondered if they got divorced. My brain goes there when it thinks of broken traditions.

I don’t even know if they’re married, to be honest. I’ve just seen them both out in the yard working on their gorgeous flowerbeds in the summer, and assumed they are a couple.

Then, worse, I was like (gasp) what if one of them is really sick or had a bad accident? I imagined one or the other keeping a hospital bedside vigil, all other things that used to seem important so unimportant in light of losing someone they love.

Then I thought maybe I was imagining the worst and they were just trying to save on their electric bill and be conscientious stewards of the earth.

Possibly last year, after untangling all the lights they swore they were NEVER doing it again.

Or maybe they spend winter on a tropical island now, those lucky bastards.

So maybe if you’re not going to put up your Christmas lights like you do every year for years now, please leave a note.

The rest of us are worried.