Let There Be Light

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By Julie, decking the halls in Somerville

It’s been a while since I decked my halls. The pandemic started the spiral, and then some family challenge came up, and then and then and then. It felt as though taking the ornaments out, hanging up the lights, dusting off the creche, it was all too much. But this year I decided to do a little bit, just to add some light to the apartment. Then I remembered how wonderful it can be.

As this artsy photo taken from my couch shows, I’ve now got two trees, lights in the bow window, and a fabulous outline of a tree. All connected by two clickers. I’ve also got lights in vases in the kitchen. I may try and get them all on one clicker by the end of the season.

The trees are heavy with ornaments. I’d forgotten how many I had, and how precious some of the memories are. Passed down by my grandmother, made for me by nieces and nephews, made by me when I was a child, bought during travels, given to me as gifts, collected by me.

I’ve also gone a bit nuts on advent calendars. Every day I’m folding oragami and adding some stitches to a cross stitch project that will hopefully make sense by Christmas. I also bought this advent calendar, which delights me. Brownie points for those who recognize it.

Decking the halls when you live alone is a lot of work. Too much work, I’d decided for three years. But this year I’ve gone for it, and I couldn’t be more delighted.

I’ve also been working on my third Theater Cop book, which is taking some interesting twists and turns. I think that project has been cathartic. I’m setting it five years later–post pandemic. I want to talk about how the pandemic affected theater, but I also want the novel to be fun. There are true crime podcasters, bodies under the smoking porch, and a bit of a Midsommer Murders vibe. I’m going with it. I’ll be publishing it myself, which will take a while, but it will come out in 2024.

Having fun writing (which I discovered during NaNoWriMo) led me to decorating, which had led me to a good mood that has kept me writing. The lights by the window are less Christmas and more holiday. I think they’ll be staying up to keep me smiling, and writing, well into the new year.

Friends, are you in the holiday spirit this year? Who else is hanging lights? Happy Hanukkah, a celebration of light, to those celebrating.

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Published by J.A. Hennrikus

One woman, three names, many books. As Julia Henry I wrote the Garden Squad series for Kensington. As J.A. Hennrikus I wrote the Theater Cop series, and as Julianne Holmes I wrote the Clock Shop series. I've been an arts administrator for my entire career, mostly in the performing arts. Currently I'm the ED of Sisters in Crime, a wonderful organization that promotes and supports crime writers. www.sistersincrime.org Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram! @JHAuthors

34 Thoughts

  1. The artsy photo is wonderful and worth studying. I’m so glad you’ve chosen to light up your life and I like it that some of them will stay up after Christmas to keep you writing and smiling.

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  3. I love this, Julie. I don’t have any family coming for Christmas, and I had decided to minimally decorate, which means no tree. It is a lot of work, and I mostly do it myself at home. I do have wreaths on the doors and a few of my favorite Christmas things around, including the creche, and the candle lights in the windows.

    But being in Puerto Rico this week and talking about Christmas traditions with my daughter-in-law’s family made me resolve to get a small tree and put it up tomorrow after I get home!

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  4. I am glad you decided to decorate this year, JULIE! I usually don’t do any holiday decorations in my apartment. But I did get some free decorations from my local Buy Nothing neighbourhood group earlier this year, so I may make the effort.

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  5. I’m looking forward to reading Theater Cop #3. The pandemic certainly affected my career as a stage actor. I just auditioned for live theater in person – something I haven’t done since 2019! When the shutdown hit, I was 5 performances away from completing a run at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. I was lucky – I got paid for a nice run of performances and my rehearsals. But I have colleagues who were in tech week with non-union shows when the world shut down, and didn’t receive a dime for all their hard work leading up to tech week. And post-shutdown, Chicago lost quite a number of theater companies. Luckily, I have been able to focus more on audiobook narration, which I started doing in 2018 and have always been passionate about. But it’s been a crazy time for live theater.

    By the way, your Hans Gruber advent calendar is hilarious!!!

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  6. Julie,

    I’m never in “the holiday spirit” myself.

    Not to say I hate the holidays or anything but I don’t decorate. My mother decorated the house but I have no interest in doing that stuff so I don’t.

    But hey, I’m reading a Christmas themed mystery or two. I get gifts for friends and family.

    But I’m not really playing holiday music, watching Hallmark’s endless Xmas movies or getting cocoa and cookies ready for Santa’s Big Ride.

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  7. I’m with you. Even though we leave on December 22, and it will be a dash to get packed and get out the door, and even though I don’t expect any company from now until then, I have decorated with a small, fake tree, candles in the windows and treasured family items on the surfaces. And two advent calendars! One online and one in my dining room.

    What can I say? It makes me happy.

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  9. With just hubby and I, plus downsizing a few years back, has us doing a lot less than we use to. However, we enjoy what we do and enjoying the festivities of the season. That includes leaving time to watch holiday movies (new and old) and reading books set in the Christmas time.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  10. The Boy and The Very Nice Girlfriend pitched in this year, so we are all decorated. He did the lights on the tree, she helped with the ornaments, and they built a gingerbread barn. They have a kit for a village, but I don’t know if they’ll get around to it. It was fun showing her the ornaments and explaining where they came from.

    All I need are three little button batteries for my Christmas-light bottle.

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  12. MERRY CHRISTMAS, Julie! I love your Christmas decorations! We spend Christmas with our son and his family, but my wife and I put up our own Christmas tree (artificial) on November 01, and take it down after January 06, though during the pandemic we had it up until Valentine’s day…The lights and ornaments (which we have collected from traveling for over 50 years) just create so much joy…when you take it down, there is an emptiness in our family room that we are delighted to recteate again the following year! JOY! Luis at ole dot travel

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  13. Fabulous photo! With a new puppy in the house trees are out of the question, but hubs did set up his Christmas houses on the dining table and we light them every night. It’s fun and gets us in the spirit!

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  14. I feel you so much. Decorating is so much work (and we won’t get into the undecorating), but I always smile as I pull out the ornaments and think about where and when I got them, or who I got them from. I finally finished last night, so I can enjoy for a couple of weeks. And then the undecorating. As another single person, I hear you on that, too.

    But I enjoy having them up so much. Working from home, I can see one of my trees from where I sit for work, and it is delightful to have my lights on to enjoy when I look up from my computer.

    It is worth it. Even if I question whether I really want to do it every year.

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  15. What a lovely room! So glad you got your lights back on. We are in the process of moving so have been unable to decorate this year, and I had no idea how much I’d miss it. Thanks for sharing yours—I’m living vicariously.

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  17. I’m more in the mood for Christmas this year than I have been for several years. I had my outside lights up by the middle of October and they have been on every night since. Several neighbors followed suit. The tree and other indoor decorations went up on Thanksgiving and all will stay up until at least the middle of February. I really enjoy the work I put into it all.

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  18. I hung lights on my little wooden tree. I didn’t hang lights in my windows this year since it seems to bother the birds in the morning. aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com

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