Guest column: Lighting up Christmas magic memories

Published Dec 24, 2023 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 2 minute read

A festively lit home on Hickory Road in Windsor is shown on December 22, 2021. Photo by Dan Janisse /The Windsor Star

By: Lee Lavigne

The holiday season can be one of the biggest catalysts for nostalgic thoughts and feelings.

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One of my happiest nostalgic thoughts came courtesy of a pre-Christmas trip to Frankenmuth, Mich., when I was just a child.

I remember walking hand-in-hand with my parents down a beautifully decorated street and mother pointing out a storefront window. There was a large taffy-pulling machine swirling around and around and hovering over a magical Christmas village made of gingerbread and candy. The whole display was framed by strands of green holly and multi-coloured lights.

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I stood there staring through that window and into that tiny village, letting my imagination run free. I wondered what it would be like to shrink down to size and play in that magical gingerbread Christmas town.

It was cold outside, but no matter — the feeling that display gave me was enough to keep me warm. At home later that night, tucked into my warm bed, the only thing I remember thinking before falling asleep was the warmth and happiness of that storefront window display.

Little did I know, but the memory of that trip to Frankenmuth and that magical display would stay with me decades into the future.

I was reminded of that time most recently when my wife and I walked down to a house about a block from ours in South Windsor’s Yorktown neighbourhood. We don’t know these people, however they had decorated the exterior of their home last year with the most beautiful Christmas light display we had ever seen on a house.

Brightly coloured lights by the thousands on the roof, porch, side yard, front yard, they were everywhere. We heard they had invited the surrounding community to watch the initial grand lighting of it all the previous year, and they were planning to hold the same event again this Christmas.

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As we stood on the sidewalk, alongside a hundred other people, waiting in anticipation for the neighbourhood holiday light show to begin, we were offered cookies and hot chocolate that the owners of the home were passing out. We happily accepted their generous offer which added to the jovial atmosphere. The weather was a little less than ideal — cold and drizzly with a few flakes in the air — but it mattered not.

Finally, at 6:15 p.m. on a darkened Sunday night, a man came out onto his front porch, and the countdown began: 3 … 2 … 1.

In an instant, that darkened and cold Sunday night on Dominion Boulevard, was transformed into a warm, beautifully lit-up Christmas wonderland. The crowd let out a quiet gasp and the kids stared with widened eyes, taking in the enchantment that stood before them.

Among everything going on around us — including a surprise visit from old St. Nick — I noticed a little girl, around seven years old, staring into the Christmas display along with her siblings.

Only her gaze was different from the others. I had recognized that gaze. It was the mirror image of my own, 43 years earlier as I stared into that Frankenmuth window display.

Was she also imagining herself shrinking down to size and running and playing within that Christmas wonderland?

Would she look back 40 years from now and feel nostalgic about this night?

I hope so.

Lee Lavigne is a Windsor resident.

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