Our view: Christmas lights and humor are the antidote to 2020 – Joplin Globe

These nights are the longest and darkest of the year.

And this year, nights and days have been longer and darker than most.

Thats why it is great to see so many houses, businesses, churches and streets aglow, lit up, decorated and twinkling for the holidays. Christmas lights are the antidote to the place we find ourselves at the end of 2020.

We urge everyone to get out and see them this week.

A Joplin woman, Lynn Crouch, has launched a campaign, Joplin Lights and Luminaries, encouraging people to put out both on Christmas eve.

She is not alone.

The Dallas Morning News reported recently that the company, Christmas Dcor, which decorates homes and business with outdoor lights, has been popping.

People need joy right now, said Blake Smith, founder. And they are doing whatever they can to find it.

The company and its 300 franchises are reportedly on track to light up more than 50,000 properties this year, compared to 43,000 last year.

Unlike Christmas parades, family gatherings, parties, outings to Christmas shop and many other traditions that have had to be sacrificed in 2020, Christmas lights remain a tradition untouched by the pandemic.

(Humor helps too. You can find, if youre so inclined, toilet paper and hand sanitizer ornaments, one of Dr. Anthony Fauci, and even Santa with a mask. Christmas stores say these items have become bestsellers.)

John and Deborah Hird, whose home at 11 Quail Ridge Drive won the Globes second annual Home Holiday Lighting and Decorating Contest, said they do it because we like to try to bring a little bit more joy to the neighborhood.

Having decorated since moving there nearly 20 years ago, the family also have noted that Christmas decorating is contagious.

Now theres a superspreader event wed like to see happen!

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Our view: Christmas lights and humor are the antidote to 2020 - Joplin Globe