In years’ past, I confess my family has kept up our holiday lights a little too long after the season ends. I try to prolong the spirit of joy and hope as long as I can by keeping the festive lights up and running through mid-January. After that, we will turn them off and sometimes just not get around to taking them down until spring because it’s too darn cold to get out on that ladder. This year, though, the unseasonably warmer winter had us taking down the lights well before the change of season.
But, with a global pandemic taking hold of neighborhoods all over the world, many people decided to forget about the calendar and either keep up their lights or even put them back on the house and shine them brightly! The thought behind digging out the Christmas lights is to add a little bit of light and hope to the world as it waits for the coronavirus impact to fade.
Using the hashtag #LightsforLife, people are sharing their illuminated homes and stories about why the idea of stringing up some lights is making a difference during these difficult times.
I tried to trace the source of this uplifting trend. All my searches came back to this tweet from Lane Grindle, who is a broadcaster for Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers:
What if we all put our Christmas lights back up? Then we could get in the car and drive around and look at them. That seems like a fair social distancing activity.
— Lane Grindle (@lanegrindle) March 15, 2020
It didn’t take long or people to get a spark of inspiration and start a trend that keeps getting brighter. A woman named Nadine shared a photo of her neighbor’s house decorated with blue lights that gave her a warm smile.
Today a few of my neighbours decided we needed a bit more light in this dark time and decided to turn their Christmas lights back on. I hope it brings a smile to you face like it did mine. pic.twitter.com/MukgY36FTj
— Nadine (@NadineGB204) March 18, 2020
Some people may find it a little crazy that Christmas lights can make a difference, by Twitter user Andy Whittaker ignored the doubters and got into the spirit, too.
This maybe bonkers but it struck a chord with me. Putting up Christmas lights to spread a little cheer! Here are mine… #LightsForLife #CoronaVirus pic.twitter.com/O5SNmfuiqR
— Andy Whittaker (@breakfastandy) March 19, 2020
Meanwhile, kids are spreading the light indoors as well. A DJ from a Canadian radio station shared photos of his kids’ bedrooms which were strung with colorful lights all over.
So my two youngest wanted to add a few more lights into the mix so here are their bedrooms tonight. We’re all in this together so let’s keep the lights on, both inside and outside. ð-@Captain_Hudson #COVID19SK pic.twitter.com/G3meECAAW1
— 98 COOL fm (@98COOLfm) March 19, 2020
And there’s Alyssa Lein, who shared that she’s loving getting the last laugh in holding off on taking down her Christmas decorations.
People used to make fun of us for still having our tree up in March. Who’s laughing now. #CheerfulAF #Quarantine pic.twitter.com/mkTSGWhmi5
— Alyssa Lein (@alyssa_lein) March 19, 2020
User Virginia Holleman also took the opportunity to get more life out of the lights her family never took down.
Put lights up? We never took them down! #Hope #LightsForLife #DoingMyPartOk pic.twitter.com/0ybYGLVs0V
— Virginia Holleman (@vholleman) March 20, 2020
All of these photos and the hundreds of others out there on social media have me seriously thinking about pulling out a box or two from my basement and putting some back on the house. We could all use a little more light to brighten our lives right now, right?
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for other great tips and ideas to make the most out of life.
