My new favourite human being is this man who, like myself, is incapable of being normal about fairy lights at this time of year. He shares my deep disappointment at how modern LED light strands are too intense and cold, particularly the blues, which inevitably make it look like all the emergency services have come at once to arrest and/or resuscitate your Christmas tree, and he goes to very thorough lengths to solve the problem...
Well, the Epiphany has come and gone, the trees is still standing and that hour of sunshine my paganistic wife needs before she’ll let our Christmas tree go dark remains elusive.
The more observant among you may notice, however, that our tree is not the same as it was. Believing the weather forecaster’s promise of sunshine for Saturday, Sharon stripped the tree of its ornaments Friday, leaving only the lights - a substitute, she says, for the natural light that’s so scarce these days.
The weather people predicted the sun would appear at 9 a.m. Saturday. That timeline changed as the day went on - to 1 p.m., then 2, then 4, then 5 (20 minutes before sunset). It never did show up, but there’s hope for Sunday. Or Monday.
By the way, the National Weather Service made it official, reporting that in the first five days of January, Grand Rapids, the city to the west of us, got a total 5 minutes of sunshine.