What I Learned From Going to See Christmas Lights

Christmas is quickly approaching, and there are plenty of lights and decorations around. So yesterday we headed out to drive through one of the local neighborhoods that’s well known for their extravagant Christmas decorations, thinking our young children would enjoy the experience.

So off we go to see all the lights and decorations in the neighborhood across town, and before we’re out of site of our own house, the kids are already squealing with delight. But not because they were excited about where we were headed, but because of what they were already seeing.

As they peeked out the car windows, they began to spy Christmas decorations on our own street—decorations which were relatively minor compared to where we were headed. But the kids were giddy nonetheless. They saw a Christmas tree here, a string of lights there. Definitely nothing fancy. But they were still having a blast.

Eventually we reached our destination, and they enjoyed the larger displays there as well. But in the end, it didn’t matter if it was a single strand of light wrapped around a tiny tree just down the street, or thousands of lights illuminating an entire house across town—they loved it all.

As an adult, I’ve seen how easy it can be to lose the ability to enjoy the things all around me as thoroughly as I once did. Yesterday, I saw the same lights as my kids did, but the lights near our house didn’t evoke nearly the same emotions in me as they did in them. Partly because I had seen them before, and partly because I knew where we were headed.

And although this may be normal, I wonder what it would be like to be able to thoroughly enjoy whatever surprises or glimpses of beauty I encounter throughout each day. Not dismissing them because they’re small or common, but learning to enjoy them in their own right.

Taking the kids out for that drive was fun. But now I’m wondering how many other things I never fully enjoy because they’ve become so familiar. I’m convinced that beauty and wonder are all around—even in the small and the common.The question is, will we see them?