I was out somewhere a couple of weeks ago and noticed that one house still had Christmas lights up. It was the middle of the day, so they weren’t on, but I thought it was funny and wondered whether the homeowners just planned to leave them up all year. They may be ahead of the game, because people have started to put their Christmas lights out again as a way to literally brighten up what has quickly become a very dark time. I first saw an article about this on Facebook, but the trend is all over Twitter, too:
If you notice your neighbors turning on their Christmas lights tonight, don’t worry — you haven’t lost all track of time while social distancing. Many people have been putting their Christmas lights back up in March to spread some cheer amid the fear and uncertainty that has accompanied the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the U.S.
Although it’s unclear who first came up with the idea, the trend has since taken off on Twitter, with users sharing photos of their homes lit up with hashtags like #LightsForLife and #CoronaKindess.
“Today a few of my neighbors decided we needed a bit more light in this dark time and decided to turn their Christmas lights back on. I hope it brings a smile to your face like it did mine,” wrote one Twitter user, sharing photos of a few unseasonably decorated houses on her street.
While some say they’re using the lights as an easy way to brighten up the block, others say the light displays may also serve as a good form of entertainment people can enjoy safely from their cars.
This is such a fun idea. Growing up, one of the highlights of December was driving aroundand looking at all of the Christmas lights and decorations. This past December, I went past one house that had its light display timed to one of the local radio stations. That was so much fun to watch! We could all use a bit more light right now, and if folks don’t mind an uptick in their electric bills for a bit, it would be really fun to see neighborhoods put out Christmas lights again. Since people seem to be having a very hard time with social distancing, this is one way to do that that doesn’t feel odd, or that you are depriving yourself of interacting with other people.
Aren't they beautiful! pic.twitter.com/jgmF78mVhl
— Lisa St. Regis (@LisaStRegis) March 15, 2020
What if we all put our Christmas lights back up? Then we could get in the car and drive around and look at them. That seems like a fair social distancing activity.
— Lane Grindle (@lanegrindle) March 15, 2020
My mom thinks people should start putting up Christmas lights in their windows to remind each other that there is still life & light while we #StayTheFHome.
I think she’s on to something.#DoingMyPartCO #CoronavirusUSA #LightsForLife pic.twitter.com/XHxDyORAcS
— Michael 🎧 (@quickbear) March 16, 2020
Photos credit Tejas Prajapati, Eftodii Aurelia and Roberto Nickson via Pexels
I love this idea!
lol that’s why I saw a few houses in my neighborhood with xmas lights on. I love that idea!!
I just woke up and bought candles and a pink glass lantern with white lights inside for my bedroom. ..then saw this post. I love this idea.
Stupid to tax infrastructure in time of a crisis.
Whatever makes people happy and doesn’t involve getting together in groups.
LOL I live in the Canadian prairies where there’s still snow on the ground and ice on the roof. We can’t safely take down Christmas lights till Easter so gimme a second and I’ll turn the breaker back on so everyone can see them again. … ok, done. Enjoy.
@Prariegirl, I’m in Newfoundland and still have a ten foot high snow bank on my lawn.
That’s part of the reason I leave my Xmas tree up year round. We have very long winters, a few sparkly lights every now and again makes a world of difference.
I love it! I’ve been asking all my life why don’t we decorate our houses all year long!
I’ve seen this mentioned here in the UK and I’m all over it, I’ll be getting my lights out this weekend. Ours tend to be indoor ones that go in windows and around the house so less of a cost for electricity (apart from the year I bought batter my powered ones by mistake – £££££!!!). I’m going to light up the windows at the front of our house and my neighbour is on board too.
I already have too much damn work to do around here. I sure as hell don’t need to be digging around in the attic and hanging up lights. Bah humbug
Right? I’m way too stressed a d worried about loved ones to put up Xmas lights right now.
Sorry to be a scrooge, but this is the thoughtless, wasteful short-term thinking which has caused so many of our environmental problems. Disrupting circadian rhythms in the middle of a pandemic is a bad idea. Light pollution is reaching egregious levels, and that red-blue lighting in the one picture is decidedly not beautiful; it is too blue-rich. Blue-rich lights at night decrease melatonin levels and increase your risk for a host of illnesses, including breast cancer. They’re also disastrous for pollinators and other wildlife. It’s spring, the last thing we should be doing is further straining their already-taxed adaptive cycles.
Infinitely better would be to try an hour of screen-free time in the evening: light two or three candles, adapt to the natural light/dark, listen to some music, read aloud to a loved one, meditate, sing some songs, go stand outside and watch the sunset or sunrise and soak in the warm red light. If you have to use Christmas lights, try to keep them soft and golden, not white and blue, and try not to disrupt your neighbors who may not want to have bright flashing blue lights coming into their home.
“Infinitely better would be to try an hour of screen-free time in the evening: light two or three candles, adapt to the natural light/dark, listen to some music, read aloud to a loved one, meditate, sing some songs, go stand outside and watch the sunset or sunrise and soak in the warm red light.“
Agree.
Totally agree. We’re in the middle of a Pandemic. Putting extra weight on our resources seems like a stupid idea.
Plus the consumption of energy skyrockets again
and non-environmentally-friendly energy is just a bad idea…
Give concerts for free, meet your neighbours, gaze at the stars ( the air is less polluted,so one can see the stars better…)
STOP POLLUTING PLEASE… This is pollution… 🙁
I’ve got Easter lights and they’re going up today along with some white string lights too.
There are 2 houses next door to each other (I think they’re family) near me that go all out year round for every holiday. I try to drive by every once in a while, but i haven’t done it since Christmas time. It might be time for a drive later this evening.
I love this idea and am going to join in. Lights go in my windows today! 🙂
That pupper in the sweater is giving me life.
Same. I could just squeeze him! And being a weiner dog, he would bite me.
Guilty here. I’ve hung fairy lights as wall curtains, ceiling to floor, where we eat. And I’ve taken empty frames (just the frame part) and criss-crossed fairy lights on the backs and hung them. From small to large. Everywhere lol. And candles in glass jars are everywhere. We’re actually trying not to turn overhead lights on, so I’ve lit up the night with off-white fairies lol!
I was talking to my husband about this last weekend. I said I wanted to get out our small Christmas tree and just put on a couple strings of lights and then do all the things we didn’t get to do over Christmas because everyone had the flu like making the gingerbread house, decorating theme ornaments each night, baking cookies and just listening to Christmas music and watching all the Christmas movies.
I have the warm white lights strung on my front porch and 100 feet of them strung on my barn. At xmas they are xmas lights and the rest of the year they are fairy lights. I haven’t taken my down nor turned them off after xmas for the last 3 years. There is a whole whack of people in my city that do the same and have been for years now. To us this is not new.
There are people who keep a fake tree up all year and change lights for the holiday–Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s, etc. I find it stupid but…whatever.