Lighting the Way
Sometimes it's a heavy lift to match our mood to the holiday hype. Life is certain to gift its Pandora's Box of losses and disappointments to us all. And too often the daily drumbeat of dire news around the globe muffles the calming strains of "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to men".
But when my primeval seasonal prompts don't arrive on cue, I reach for a pair of reliable booster cables to jumpstart my spirits.
Music ---not the ubiquitous canned variety – but classic songs move the needle for me, including: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. I paid $3.95 for this book of 120 Christmas Songs sometime around 1973. I played and led kids in song at my part-time job at Peter Pan Daycare and Nursery (yes!) while earning my journalism degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia. As you can see, its tattered pages reveal that I've recouped my money's worth.
You might prefer a holiday playlist that David Byrne (Talking Heads) recently curated for NPR's Fresh Air. It includes Fat Man's Comin' and Christmas will Break Your Heart. npr.org
Lights Set the Stage
I also try to indulge in generous helpings of illuminated holiday displays and lighted holiday parades. One week ago my husband and I climbed into the car, and drove from Boone County to the holiday mecca of Oskaloosa, Iowa. In 2017, the success of its Lighted Christmas Parade – one of the oldest in the state – prompted business owners and community leaders to launch "Painting with Lights" on the City Square. The storefronts of more than two dozen buildings are covered with 300,000+ LED lights: Don't take my word for it –see it for yourself: the collective impact is dazzlingly delightful!
Oskaloosa's journey to becoming a holiday destination also offers a feel-good backstory. Founded in 2015, a wonderful women's group of community boosters called the Golden Goose Club agreed to each give $100 per quarter, pooling their resources to fund improvements for new attractions in Mahaska County.
Two years ago, after growing to a flock of 180+ "geese" as they call themselves, they purchased a programmable 20-feet tree for the City Square Park, with help from the local George Daily Trust, to elevate the impact of the "Painting with Lights" display. Oskaloosa-based Musco, the City of Oskaloosa, and DB Landscaping created a brilliant LED display to outline the historic bandstand.
This year, a prominent new Golden Goose project, "Dancing with Lights" accentuates the downtown display. More than 35,000 lights, synchronized to the melodies of 30 songs, can be enjoyed through the bandstand's sound system, or by setting your car radio to 88.7 FM within the vicinity of the City Square. The full show is one hour in length. It’s both high-tech and high touch.
Technical expertise for "Dancing with Lights" was provided by Jeremiah Maudlin, a Barnes City holiday lighting enthusiast, who agreed to move his own show-stopping synchronized light display--and expand it– to Osklaloosa's City Square this year.
It's enchanting! We stood in the bandstand, soaking in the Sensurround experience of these shimmering facades enveloping the Square, accompanied by the sounds of carefree children laughing and playing below us in the park. It's almost guaranteed to clear your emotional cache of worries and pressures. Just linger on it for a mindfulness minute!
Small Businesses Bask in the Afterglow
Between 2016 and 2022, the Golden Goose Club has contributed a total of $338,027; to date, in 2023, they've raised $372,327.
The generosity of the club members brightens the spirits of community members and visitors. But research also reveals that it might also improve the geese's outlook on life. Michael Norton, a psychologist who teaches at Harvard Business School has collaborated to publish several studies on the beneficial effects of giving.
In one experiment including about 700 people, researchers randomly assigned participants to either purchase something for themselves, or for a stranger. The result? Giving to others created a significant boost in happiness. Spending on oneself didn't.
It also turns out that giving can be "contagious," in the best possible sense of the word. So here's a life hack: Surround yourselves with generous, grateful friends and family members who make a habit of volunteering.
Beyond the human benefits, lighted Christmas parades, downtown lighting displays, and town lighting contests boost the bottom lines of local businesses. Almost all the stores in Oskaloosa's Square extend their business hours. My husband and I browsed the shelves of the Book Vault, a beautifully renovated historic three-story bank building, and bought several gifts. Later, we enjoyed supper with our daughter and son-in-law at The Wood Iron Grille, the 2019 recipient of the Best Burger in Iowa contest. The Frosty Udder, a favorite, will be closing soon for the winter. But Smokey Row Coffee Shop adjoining the Book Vault is a great place to warm up after seeing the lights display downtown.
Brighten the Corner Where You Are
Finally, for those who are recently bereaved, or suffering through depression, some churches have made it a tradition to offer Blue Christmas services around the date of the Winter Solstice. It seems like a wonderful outreach. In the late 1970s, my mother suddenly died during the first week of December. I'll never forget the emotional isolation of being far from home, in the midst of festive holiday events at the same time as I was grieving my mom. However, memories of gratitude always rush back to me as I decorate my tree with ornaments made decades ago by my friends and placed on a tree in my apartment as a surprise when I returned from Mom's funeral.
In the deepest darkness of our world, it's a reminder that we're called to be a light for others. As 2023 draws to a close, I wish all my Unfinished Business readers a hopeful future, an illuminated pathway into 2024, and the company of caring fellow travelers.
The Dancing Lights run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on week nights and until 9 p.m. on weekends until January 7. The main square display can be seen from 4:45 p.m. until 11 p.m. Look for another light display at Mahaska Drug, on 205 North E. For more, visit http://dancinglights.info or https://www.mahaskachamber.org/
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Thank you for a bright spot on this foggy morning.
A delightful read!