“There is a crack in everything — that’s how the light gets in.”
— Leonard Cohen
Susan Lenfestey is a regular contributor. She lives in Lowry Hill.
Decades ago, our daughter Zara — then 20, now 55 — was grumping about the short, dark days of winter. “Cheer up,” I said. “In a few more days they start getting longer.”
“Well, that’s what we should celebrate,” she said. And so it began.
Miles of balsam garland were draped along our fence, lights twinkling beneath a snowy mantle. Ice globes lit by candles sprouted through the yard like small winter mushrooms.
A certain party took shape, and politicians, poets and regular neighbors gathered around the glow of a backyard bonfire. It was a celebration of the solstice, yes, but also of community and light. We need both in these dark days.
What a lift to the spirits it is to see lights strung in the trees at Franklin and Hennepin and all along the avenue that endured the two-year onslaught of construction. What a gift that downtown’s holiday lights now extend all the way to Uptown, a sign of unity and renewal. What pleasure comes from every pot of spruce tips adorned with tiny fairy lights or the massive spruce in a neighbor’s yard decked out in old-fashioned rainbow bulbs.
It may seem petty in a challenged world, or a waste of resources, but lighten up. We need all the glimmers of joy we can find in these dark days. Never mind the cost, the energy, the frivolity. Hang the lights for those who can’t.
Let there be light.
