Lights and feeling that swirls around Lakewood this time of year. When things are not going
110%, sometimes it helps to take a break, and suck in the neighborhood, neighbors, the
Emerald Canyon, our magnificent lake front, or at this time, the festive lights that are up
all over the city celebrating Christmas.
So as I drove west on Detroit Avenue, from the East Side of Lakewood, and entered the
incredible, and now easy to find your way around, DowntowN area of Lakewood, I noticed
that DowntowN had gotten their stars up and lit!!!! This is always a sign the Christmas is
near, and that all the fun associated with it is just around the corner.
Then I looked at the first star in DowntowN, an area that has just received millions of dollars
in renovation, clean-up, way finding, and a general dedication by city hall to everything
that is retail in this area, and noticed, 2/3rds of the lights in the first star were burnt out?
Ohhhhhh the horror! How could this happen, the gateway to DowntowN is even more shabby
than it was last year! I mean how could anyone string up lights that were burned out?
Weren't they tested? My family always tested lights before they went on the tree. And
let's not forget the major snafu of the Light Up Lakewood lights being turned on, only to
have nothing happen! Certainly, after they were plugged in and way up in that truck they
would changed out the lights, I mean you are already there, it only makes sense. But no,
we had this as our first star in the shopping district!
And then it hit me, literally hit me like a ton of brinks. Of course, this was Lakewood's very
well thought out homage to a holiday tradition we have all come to love, and cherish.
"A Charlie Brown's Christmas" where Charlie Brown brings to the school play the most
screwed up bare little Christmas Tree he could find, because it too needed a Christmas,
and the love of those that dance around a Christmas Tree. That this tree, like all trees,
and all living things need, love, respect, celebration, song and dance. This was really one
of the most beautiful acts I have ever witnessed by Lakewood City Hall, and I give them
a standing ovation for doing it. After all, we all need to remember the lesson taught to us
in this classic holiday cartoon. So I have decided to adopt it, and I hope we all go, with our
kids, friends and family down to the lonely Snow Flake in front of the Barton Center, and
look up, and remember.
Love, respect, remembrance, and celebration is the meaning of Christmas, the reason
for the season, not the number of lights, or fireworks, or celebrations.
Thank you Lakewood City Hall, for keeping it real, in a Charlie Brown sort of way.
Party on.
.
