‘MISMAS WIGHTS
(always said with the gusto of a 2-year-old)
For a span of eight years, Amanda was nursing one, sometimes two, of our children. She would often nurse them to sleep. But there were nights she would be touched out and just needed some personal space. On those nights, I would load the kids into the car, tell them we were going for a drive, and then drive around Bartow until everyone was asleep. I enjoyed that time. We would drive around our neighborhood, playing quiet music or “boring” talk radio, and they would soon drift off. It was time with the kids, and it was time by myself. Sometimes, it would be early in the evening; other times, it was late at night. During our late-night drives, I would get a small glimpse of people’s lives when the rest of the world was in bed. I would drive by a kitchen and see a couple sitting at the kitchen table or the blue flickering of a TV in someone’s living room. Atticus would always be the first one asleep (to this day, he almost immediately falls asleep on car trips). Ivy would babble and chatter and eventually close her eyes and sleep. Asher, on the other hand, very rarely fell asleep. I don’t know if he would fight it or just couldn’t sleep, but he would quietly ride along, assuming the ride was for putting their siblings to sleep. Once we got home, he would usually be tired enough to fall asleep.
I remember when the extent of Halloween decorations were fake cobwebs you would spread out over your front yard bushes. I’m not sure when Halloween lights became a thing, but you can believe that I worked that into our evening drives. My “let’s go for a ride” became “let’s go for a ride and see the Halloween lights.” We would ride around and see the purple, orange, and green lights some families would hang up. There was always one house; we referred to it as the “scary house” that would always overdo it with a giant Halloween display. We would often drive by that house and then proceed to drive around. All in all, Halloween lights were okay, but that was nothing compared to what was coming up.
The coup de grâce was always Christmas lights. I was able to get a full six weeks of usage out of that one! Even starting pre-thanksgiving, I asked the kids if they wanted to see if people had started putting up Christmas lights. We would drive around, and if we were lucky, one or two families would already have lights up.
Closer to Christmas, when homes were finally decorated, I would get everyone in their car seats, put on The Charlie Brown Christmas CD, and head out to see the ‘MISMAS WIGHTS (always said with the gusto of a 2-year-old). We would drive around, enjoy the lights, and then I would take the county roads past the lights and drive until I heard steady, even breathing coming from the back of the minivan.
Bartow might be small, but it takes its Christmas lights very seriously. The city and a specific neighborhood contribute to making Bartow’s holiday lights the small town spectacular they are. The City of Bartow installs a massive Christmas tree in a plaza across the street from the Old Court House every year. Next to it is a lifesize display of Santa in his sleigh with his reindeer, featuring Rudolph. The other day, Amanda and I drove home and witnessed the city workers putting up the tree (Santa had already been set up). That moment, knowing that it was officially the Christmas season in Bartow, made me happy. They also set up the more typical lighted decorations on light poles that run through the town's two main roads. This year, however, the lights are new–new images of presents, candy canes, Christmas trees, candles, and snowflakes lit with bright LED lights–fun, festive, and joyful.
Bartow is known as The City of Oaks and Azaleas due to its many oak and azalea trees. Oak trees line Main Street, which is beautiful year-round. However, the tireless city workers wrap each tree in small twinkling lights for the holiday season. In a new move this year, Bartow has added red lights to the white. When you look down Main Street, every tree lights up, and against the night sky, it is a lovely boulevard of candy canes.
The other group that contributes to Bartow’s Christmas lights is a neighborhood. Until recently, I didn’t realize the event had a name, but it is officially called the Bartow Christmas Tree Lane. It originally started on one street, then slowly expanded to the entire neighborhood. The yards are all outlined in white lights; some pipe Christmas music through speakers in their yards, and some have set up an AM radio station where the music syncs with the lights. Individual houses take pride in decorating and personalizing their homes and yards with lights and figures. One house displays a life-size Santa Claus that you can see through their living room picture window. My kids always thought it was rather creepy.
It started as rides to see the lights with the secret agenda of putting the kids to sleep. But as the kids got older and could fall asleep on their own, the trips to see the ‘MISMAS WIGHTS (again, with that same enthusiasm) became more of an annual tradition. I will make homemade hot chocolate and put it into travel cups; then, we set out to see the lights. The Charlie Brown Christmas CD has long since been retired, so now we stream it through Spotify.
There is something magical and innocent about Christmas lights that I have always loved. Growing up in Brazil, since most people live in apartment buildings, you would see giant stars made up of lights high up on the building. Like shooting stars, the stars would have long tails flowing from the top of the building down to the ground. Even in the simplicity of a star, you knew it was Christmas time when you saw them all over the city. On a recent trip to Hollywood Studios, the kids and I reminisced about how Disney used to do The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights every year. The entire backlot section of the park, with the facades of New York and California streets and the house facades used in TV shows and movies, was decorated with Christmas lights. The lights would “dance” in sync with the music every few songs, and fake snow would be blown through the air. It was a winter wonderland in Central Florida.
My son and I will decorate our home with Christmas lights the day after Thanksgiving. While we do not live in the Christmas Tree Lane neighborhood, our lights are just as tasteful and elegant. I will play Christmas music through my phone in my back pocket, and while I can’t blow fake snow, I can make our front yard a little more magical.
Good stuff, Curtis! Felt like I was there with you!