Too Soon For Christmas

Years ago there was a house that I passed nearly every day. It was an impressive Georgian two-story, but at Christmas time it became more impressive still. The owner had an enthusiasm for holiday lighting and like clockwork, the day after Thanksgiving, his home became a castle of flashing light. It was the sort of fabulous display that people would drive out of their way to see.

One year, on the evening after Halloween, I made my turn at his corner and all the lights and decorations were up… and three weeks earlier than usual. Instead of being grateful I was disappointed. It seemed that he was surrendering to all the gross commercialism that forces the holiday into premature birth.

I soon learned that the early appearance of those lights had a quite different motive. The man who lived there had received the unhappy news that he had cancer, his condition was terminal, and survival to the end of the year was unlikely. With the help of his family he had determined to put up his decorations early. For this one season his home glowed with hope for one more Christmas, and as a profound argument against the night.