Christmas Lights in Saugus

Christmas Lights in Saugus
Originally uploaded by chaostheory.

When I was a kid, there was a yearly tradition where we'd pile in the car on some December night, and drive one town over to Saugus to see the Christmas lights. We'd head up the Lynn Fells Parkway and wind down the side streets. This neighborhood was legendary for elaborate lighting-- one house had a scaffolding erected on the front each years so that a giant yellow star could beam down upon a creche scene. Another house, located up on a cul-de-sac, was covered on all sides with small pink lights. As houses were sold, that neighborhood became less of an attraction unto itself and more of an area where you could still find one or two homes kicking it old school, while the others sat quietly in darkness.

We continue the tradition by bringing our kids to see the lights. There's these two homes on one of the side streets that have been stellar examples of what the entire neighborhood used to look like each year. This is one of them. I don't know who these people are, but when I see the wide eyed wonder on my kids' faces as they stare at the display, I want to find the owners of the houses and thank them and maybe give them a couple of bucks toward their electricity bill for December, which must roughly equal the gross national product for a small island nation. This cameraphone picture doesn't even begin to do the sheer candlepower of this house any justice.