Light Out

Flickering Christmas lights just started to show up in greater numbers.  It's all more sleek and streamlined than when I was a kid.  There seems to be less, these days, as well.  Maybe that's just perception.

Seems like the day after Thanksgiving the world used to turn into a cross between the disco North Pole and Bethlehem.  Now, you start seeing Christmas items in stores before Thanksgiving, but not out and about.  Again, maybe just where you go and what grabs attention.

The tiny little LEDs on even tinier strands of copper are really slick and neat.  They're probably even brighter, when left on, than the older style... that is, when they're not doing some pre-programmed light show.  They don't get as hot as the old bulbs, either, so the fire risk greatly reduces.

The old style were more imposing.  The newer little LEDs seem to blend in better.  Maybe too well.

There's just something about the old incandescents.  The fat ones and the little skinny ones both inspire nostalgia.  You don't see very many of them anymore, either.  

They're out there, though.  There will probably be even more.  Decorating Santas and reindeer in a yard near you, they'll keep flickering until the New Year.