The Christmas Lights - a holiday story
Contents:
The fact that is was among the few works from one of my favorite authors that I had not read, also played into my decision. The story reminded me a bit of my grandfather, who was very dear to me. More importantly, it reminded me of how, as humans, we touch the lives of other around us. A word of caution, you might want to make sure you have a tissue handy. One person found this helpful. I hate Christmas, because it was when my grandpa died of his second stroke and was confined to the hospital, dying by inches.
So when I saw this short story, I made my biggest scowl face. I hated Christmas, so this story was crap. And then I accidentally read it because it was included in some Bubba the Monster Hunter stuff.
And I cried my eyes out, because John G. Hartness wrote about someone like me: There were traditions that just seemed pointless because the person who love them was gone. And then someone comes along and shows that even the smallest traditions are worth it. So, if you read this John G. Hartness-thank you for the story that put a bandage on my busted heart. Now that is a different story from John G. Hartness, proving the man has breadth of skill, not just mad skillz.
The Christmas Lights - a holiday story - Kindle edition by John G. Hartness. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. My Two Holidays: A Hanukkah and Christmas Story. Danielle Emma helps her father light the menorah at Hanukkah and decorates the tree with her mother at.
Will make you cry. Received during participation in the Weird Wild West Kickstarter.
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I read this story on Christmas morning and then had our youngest daughter read it to the whole family before breakfast. It was a delightful way to began the morning and may very well become a new tradition. In this story John reminds us of the value of a good tradition and the blessing of spending a life committed to one and the rewards that brings.
The story also reminds us that neighborhoods change and that is not always a bad thing. I highly recommend this story, especially during the Christmas season. It is a great read. See all 4 reviews. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway.
The author weaves the stories of all of these characters together to create a wonderful Christmas story that will brighten your spirits. Small little connections turn into big ones, and heartstrings are always pulled. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther , the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. If the strand has nothing attached, or has blown repeatedly, it may contain a short circuit and should be repaired or discarded. White LEDs are similar in most respects such as power and durability, but utilize a two-stage process to create the white polychromatic, or broad spectrum light.
The Christmas Lights - a holiday story. Set up a giveaway.
Feedback If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us. Would you like to report poor quality or formatting in this book? Click here Would you like to report this content as inappropriate? Click here Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? There's a problem loading this menu right now. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. The first commercially produced Christmas tree lamps were manufactured in strings of multiples of eight sockets by the General Electric Co.
Each socket took a miniature two- candela carbon-filament lamp. From that point on, electrically illuminated Christmas trees, but only indoors, grew with mounting enthusiasm in the United States and elsewhere. San Diego in , Appleton, Wisconsin in , and New York City in were the first recorded instances of the use of Christmas lights outside. Over a period of time, [ clarification needed ] strings of Christmas lights found their way into use in places other than Christmas trees.
Soon, strings of lights adorned mantles and doorways inside homes, and ran along the rafters, roof lines, and porch railings of homes and businesses. In recent times, many city skyscrapers are decorated with long mostly-vertical strings of a common theme, and are activated simultaneously in Grand Illumination ceremonies.
In , a boycott of Christmas lights was done in Greenville, North Carolina to protest the segregation that kept blacks from being employed by downtown businesses in Greenville, during the Christmas sales season. Light decorations in the homes, on the Christmas trees, or outside the house were not shown, and only six houses in the black community broke the boycott that Christmas.
In the mids, the video of the home of Carson Williams was widely distributed on the internet as a viral video. The technology used in Christmas lighting displays is highly diverse, ranging from simple light strands, Christmas lights a. Fairy lights , through to full blown animated tableaux, involving complex illuminated animatronics and statues.
Christmas lights come in a dazzling array of configurations and colors. The small "midget" bulbs commonly known as fairy lights are also called Italian lights in some parts of the U. The types of lamps used in Christmas lighting also vary considerably, reflecting the diversity of modern lighting technology in general. Common lamp types are incandescent light bulbs and now light-emitting diodes LEDs , which are being increasingly encouraged as being more energy efficient.
Less common are neon lamp sets. Fluorescent lamp sets were produced for a limited time by Sylvania in the mids. Christmas lights using incandescent bulbs are somewhat notorious for being difficult to troubleshoot and repair. In the s and s, the series circuit connected light sets would go completely dark when a single bulb failed.
So in the fairly recent past, the mini-lights have come with shunts to allow a set to continue to operate with a burned out bulb. However, if there are multiple bulb failures or a shunt is bad, the string can still fail. There are two basic ways to troubleshoot this: One example made specifically for Christmas lights is the LightKeeper Pro. For additional information, see the troubleshooting section of the Holiday lighting technology article.
When Christmas light manufacturers first started using LEDs the colors seemed very dull and uninspiring. Even the white lights, which were typically single-chip LEDs, glowed with a faintly yellowish color that made them look cheap and unattractive. Displays of Christmas lights in public venues and on public buildings are a popular part of the annual celebration of Christmas, and may be set up by businesses or by local governments. The displays utilize Christmas lights in many ways, including decking towering Christmas trees in public squares, street trees and park trees, adorning lampposts and other such structures, decorating significant buildings such as town halls and department stores, and lighting up popular tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower and the Sydney Opera House.
From the s, beginning with tract housing in the U. The Holiday Trail of Lights is a joint effort by cities in east Texas and northwest Louisiana that had its origins in the Festival of Lights and Christmas Festival in Natchitoches , started in , making it one of the oldest light festivals in the United States.
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Fulton Street in Palo Alto, California , has the nickname "Christmas Tree Lane" due to the display of lighted Christmas trees on the sides of the street. A familiar pastime during the holiday season is to drive or walk around neighborhoods in the evening to see the lights displayed on and around other homes.
While some homes have no lights, others may have incredibly ornate displays which require weeks to construct. A rare few have even made it to the Extreme Christmas TV specials shown on HGTV , at least one requiring a generator and another requiring separate electrical service to supply the amount of electrical power required. In Australia and New Zealand , chains of Christmas lights were quickly adopted as an effective way to provide ambient lighting to verandas, where cold beer is often served in the long hot summer evenings.
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Since the late twentieth century, increasingly elaborate Christmas lights have been displayed, and driving around between 8 and 10 p. In some areas Christmas lighting even becomes a fierce competition, with town councils offering awards for the best decorated house, in other areas it is seen as a co-operative effort, with residents priding themselves on their street or their neighbourhood.
The town of Lobethal, South Australia , in the Adelaide Hills , is famed for its extensive Christmas lighting displays and many residents go to great effort to put on the best light display in the town. Residents from the nearby city of Adelaide often drive up to the town to view them.
In the United States , lights have been produced for many other holidays. These may be simple sets in typical holiday colors, or the type with plastic ornaments which the light socket fits into. Light sculptures are also produced in typical holiday icons. Halloween is the most popular, with miniature light strings having black-insulated wires and semi-opaque orange bulbs. Later sets had some transparent purple bulbs a representation of black, similar to blacklight , a few even have transparent green, or a translucent or semi-opaque lime green possibly representing slime as in Ghostbusters , or creatures like goblins or space aliens.
Two types of icicle lights are sold at Halloween: Easter lights are often produced in pastels. These typically have white wire and connectors. Red, white, and blue lights are produced for Independence Day , as well as U. Net lights have been produced with the lights in a U. In , some stores carried stakes with LEDs that light fiber-optics, looking similar to fireworks. These above light strings are occasionally used on Christmas trees anyway, usually to add extra variety to the colors of the lights on the tree. Various types of patio lighting with no holiday theme are also made for summertime.
These are often clear white lights, but most are ornament sets, such as lanterns made of metal or bamboo , or plastic ornaments in the shape of barbecue condiments , flamingos and palm trees , or even various beers. Some are made of decorative wire or mesh, in abstract shapes such as dragonflies , often with glass "gems" or marbles. Light sculptures are also made in everything from wire-mesh frogs to artificial palm trees outlined in rope lights.
In Pakistan , fairy lights are often used to decorate in celebration of Eid ul-Fitr at Chaand Raat , which occurs at the end of Ramadan. In India on Diwali too, homes, shops and streets are decorated with strings of fairy lights. Christmas lighting does lead to some extensive recycling issues. Every year, more than 20 million pounds of discarded holiday lights are shipped to Shijiao, China near Guangzhou , which has been referred to as "the world capital for recycling Christmas lights".
More and more cities in the U. Installing holiday lighting may also be a safety hazard when incorrectly connecting several strands of lights, repeatedly using the same extension cords, or using an unsafe ladder during the installation process. Christmas light sculptures , also called motifs, are used as Christmas decorations and for other holidays.
Originally, these were large wireframe metalwork pieces made for public displays, such as for a municipal government to place on utility poles , and shopping centers to place on lampposts. Since the s, these are also made in small plastic home versions that can be hung in a window , or on a door or wall. Framed motifs can be lit using mini lights or ropelight, and larger scale motifs and sculptures may use C7 bulbs. Light sculptures can be either flat most common or three-dimensional.
Flat sculptures are the motifs, and are often on metal frames, but garland can also be attached to outdoor motifs. Indoor motifs often have a multicolored plastic backing sheet, sometimes holographic. These and other 3D displays may be bare-frame, or be covered with garland, looped and woven transparent plastic cord or acrylic , or natural or goldtone -painted vines. Snowflakes are a popular design for municipal displays, so as not to be misconstrued as a government endorsement of religion , or so they can be left up all winter.
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In east Tennessee , the cities of Chattanooga , Sevierville , Pigeon Forge , and Gatlinburg have light sculptures up all winter. Gatlinburg also has custom ones for Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day , while Pigeon Forge puts flowers on its tall lampposts for spring, and for winter has a steamboat and the famous picture of U.
