I'm dreaming...

Every year I promise myself not to get caught up in the frantic rush of Christmas and each year I find myself ensnared. Not unpleasantly, you understand. I've actually grown to enjoy it. ("Grown to" is an interesting phrase. I first "grew out of" and now I've "grown to".) It has become fun. When you have an eleven year old boy, how can it not be? I still grouse and complain about the commercialism and all that, but I do love Christmas. In my heart I love it. I just try not to let on.



It just occurred to me that I haven't heard Bing Crosby sing White Christmas this year. But wait. Here's a link to Elvis singing it.




When I was a kid, I dreamt a lot about a white Christmas. I don't recall that we ever had one, but it didn't matter. The dreaming was enough. Just imagining what I would do if the snow came. I was always trying to find some definitive evidence that Santa Claus existed. Reason told me it was impossible for an overweight guy in a sleigh pulled by tiny, flying reindeer to cover so much territory in one night. Still, I had no real proof that he didn't exist. A little snow on Christmas Eve would be all I needed. It would be impossible for him to get in and out of our house without leaving sleigh tracks, footprints, reindeer droppings. Some trace.

Now that I live in New York I do see a white Christmas now and then, but I've never think to check for footprints in the snow. Hmmm.

And so it was that tonight's theme became Christmas trees and lights. From Wales, Virginia, North Carolina and Louisiana.

Christmas in Wales

"Take a photo tour of what has to be the best dressed house in Pantperthog!"

"They started the display in the 1970s with 100 lights and a manger."

Lights in the night: Naughty or nice?

By BERNARD BAKER
Register & Bee staff writer
December 1, 2006



DANVILLE VA. - A Caswell County Christmas tradition is under way again.

Leon and Ann Paschal’s Christmas light display lit up on Thanksgiving night.

Ann Paschal said Tuesday that the couple’s Casville, N.C., home should be adorned with 1.5 million lights - up a couple hundred thousand from last year.

“Last year, we had some people visit us from Hollywood, Calif., and some from Italy came by who were visiting relatives in the area,” she said.

There could be one hitch with the display that is set to run nightly until New Year’s Eve.

Some of the Paschals’ neighbors complained to the Caswell County Sheriff’s Office about people parking in their yards and blocking their driveways.

Cheryl Fuqua, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office, said the Paschals’ attraction is popular in the area, but the street is narrow and there’s not much room for parking.

“Parking there is a problem. Cars can be towed,” Fuqua said.

People can drive through the Paschals’ property to view the display or park their cars and walk. Ann Paschal said many people prefer to park their cars and walk around the display.

She said her and her husband don’t want to do anything to upset their neighbors. They want people to enjoy the Christmas lights and the display found inside the log cabins.

“People really seem to appreciate what we do,” Ann said.

Last year, the couple’s electricity bill topped $11,000. However, contributions from viewers took care of those bills.

Now that both Leon and Ann Paschal have retired, they spend most of their time working and improving the display. They started the display in the 1970s with 100 lights and a manger.

“We’re getting older and slower. That’s all we do right,” said Ann Paschal, who retired from the Sanitary Café in Reidsville, N.C., after 29 years on the job.

Contact Bernard Baker at bbaker@registerbee.com or at (434) 791-7986.