A Lump in My Throat

[Aaron Maue]

As if getting to spend time with all our visitors this year (our first year, by the way) hasn't been blessing enough, we had one tonight that will be tough to top any time before I hang up my last light (which won't happen any time soon).

There was a knock on the door. We assumed it was one of the neighbors delivering a tin of cookies, as is not uncommon this time of year. We have great neighbors. To our surprise, we were greeted by the sweetest little girl bearing a gift. Tonight, she made us part of her family's tradition. Every year, each child in their family gets to choose another family in the area to receive a Christmas Spirit Award. She chose us, and I quote, "...to thank you for all your hard work on your pretty Christmas lights."

Her dad came to the door with her, but she delivered the message all by herself (she was about 4 or 5), explaining their family's tradition and the reason she chose us.

With a lump in my throat, I humbly accepted her gift.

As with the rest of you, we don't do it for the recognition. We do it as our gift to any who would receive it. And yet, this little girl gave us more than we have ever given. It truly doesn't get any better than this.

Aaron

[Deck]

Very, VERY, nice....love reading stories like this, thanks for posting.....

[WilliamS]

I do like the cookies. I live in a small gated community so my traffic is very light. But in 22 days I have yet to come home to an empty sidewalk. Between the retired neighbors making a ton of friends (because I decorated thier unit as well, townhouse needed more room) or the kids that stop and just watch the show its all so worth the work. I cant wait for next year to see if I cant get the gates open on the weekend to really drive in the spirit!

[CKSedg]

We received another gift on the porch today---a bag of salted unshelled peanuts---from a family we do not know. They left a note thanking us for our light display. They wrote "Thank you for the Christmas lights. We come and sit in front of your home almost every night. You make our girls' nights! Thank you for all of your time and effort - we appreciate it." There is a picture of their cute little family attached.

Makes it all worthwhile!

[scubado]

Darn it, I'm trying to go to work and got tears in my eyes!

Love it!

[Surfing4Dough]

CKSedg wrote:

We received another gift on the porch today---a bag of salted unshelled peanuts---from a family we do not know. They left a note thanking us for our light display. They wrote "Thank you for the Christmas lights. We come and sit in front of your home almost every night. You make our girls' nights! Thank you for all of your time and effort - we appreciate it." There is a picture of their cute little family attached.

Makes it all worthwhile!

I personally think they were trying to tell you that they think you are nuts.

[Abagpiper5]

Surfing4Dough wrote:

CKSedg wrote:

We received another gift on the porch today---a bag of salted unshelled peanuts---from a family we do not know. They left a note thanking us for our light display. They wrote "Thank you for the Christmas lights. We come and sit in front of your home almost every night. You make our girls' nights! Thank you for all of your time and effort - we appreciate it." There is a picture of their cute little family attached.

Makes it all worthwhile!

I personally think they were trying to tell you that they think you are nuts.

I was thinking the same thing,...lol

[WilliamS]

CKSedg wrote:

We received another gift on the porch today---a bag of salted unshelled peanuts---from a family we do not know. They left a note thanking us for our light display. They wrote "Thank you for the Christmas lights. We come and sit in front of your home almost every night. You make our girls' nights! Thank you for all of your time and effort - we appreciate it." There is a picture of their cute little family attached.

Makes it all worthwhile!

Is this like the Holiday Potato? A bag of nuts for the crazy guys with all the lights. We should start some type of tradtion with nuts and this hobby.

[tgrabher]

That's awesome! Glad you have such gr8 neighbors!

[MtDew4me]

Touching story! Thanks for sharing. I too like that tradition. Although we always pick an Angel from the mall tree for each of our 3 children to buy for a needy child of the same age and sex as them, I will be discussing this with my wife tonight to encourage this addition to our holiday tradition.

[andyzito]

Awesome story man. I had a similar experience last sunday (it's my big finale show - i travel for the holidays). A 6 year old little boy came up to me after the show and handed me a hand made card and said "mr. drew - your light show is my favorite part of Christmas." to which i replied "well thanks, but what about Santa?" he thought for a split second and said "this is way more fun..."

[De Trommelslager]

Aaron Maue wrote:

There was a knock on the door.  We assumed it was one of the neighbors delivering a tin of cookies, as is not uncommon this time of year.  We have great neighbors.  To our surprise, we were greeted by the sweetest little girl bearing a gift.  Tonight, she made us part of her family's tradition.  Every year, each child in their family gets to choose another family in the area to receive a Christmas Spirit Award.  She chose us, and I quote, "...to thank you for all your hard work on your pretty Christmas lights."

That is awesome. That little girl will remember your lights for the rest of her life.


andyzito wrote:

Awesome story man. I had a similar experience last sunday (it's my big finale show - i travel for the holidays). A 6 year old little boy came up to me after the show and handed me a hand made card and said "mr. drew - your light show is my favorite part of Christmas." to which i replied "well thanks, but what about Santa?" he thought for a split second and said "this is way more fun..."

Funny how kids see things! That is great!!

[CKSedg]

Surfing4Dough wrote:

CKSedg wrote:

We received another gift on the porch today---a bag of salted unshelled peanuts---from a family we do not know. They left a note thanking us for our light display. They wrote "Thank you for the Christmas lights. We come and sit in front of your home almost every night. You make our girls' nights! Thank you for all of your time and effort - we appreciate it." There is a picture of their cute little family attached.

Makes it all worthwhile!

I personally think they were trying to tell you that they think you are nuts.

Well, no question about that. I think computerized Christmas lights is a true indication that I've been NUTS for years!

[kzaas]

Your Stories definitly bring tears to my eyes.

People are always asking why we do it, The best answer I can give is "Just watch all of the faces and you will see why"

[Mwhite7097]

This year has been amazing and I would like to share a story also. I normally stay inside during shows, but one show, I could hear the music playing very loudly outside. My house is over 200' from the road. So I went out to investigate why they were playing it so loud. To my surprise, the car windows were rolled up and it was still very loud. The parents were outside the car and a small girl was inside. As I walked up to ask them to turn it down a bit, they explained that the girl was deaf and by turning it up loud, she can "feel the music" from the bass beats. It turns out that they were at the show before and she couldn't wait to go again. I think I may have made it into the house before the floodgates opened up but I am not sure. If anyone of you decorators get to wondering why we do this, well, I found my reason this year!
Godbless everyone who has answered any of my dumb questions here or helped me accomplish this. Merry Christmas!

[scubado]

Mwhite7097 wrote:

This year has been amazing and I would like to share a story also. I normally stay inside during shows, but one show, I could hear the music playing very loudly outside. My house is over 200' from the road. So I went out to investigate why they were playing it so loud. To my surprise, the car windows were rolled up and it was still very loud. The parents were outside the car and a small girl was inside. As I walked up to ask them to turn it down a bit, they explained that the girl was deaf and by turning it up loud, she can "feel the music" from the bass beats. It turns out that they were at the show before and she couldn't wait to go again. I think I may have made it into the house before the floodgates opened up but I am not sure. If anyone of you decorators get to wondering why we do this, well, I found my reason this year!
Godbless everyone who has answered any of my dumb questions here or helped me accomplish this. Merry Christmas!

This sounds like THE best reason to get an EDM transmitter! Terrific story.

[David Rise]

AWESOME Aaron!

[Aaron Maue]

What great stories, everyone!! Teary-eyed as I type this. This hobby is amazing. And you all rock!!!

[shfr26]

Mwhite7097 wrote:

This year has been amazing and I would like to share a story also. I normally stay inside during shows, but one show, I could hear the music playing very loudly outside. My house is over 200' from the road. So I went out to investigate why they were playing it so loud. To my surprise, the car windows were rolled up and it was still very loud. The parents were outside the car and a small girl was inside. As I walked up to ask them to turn it down a bit, they explained that the girl was deaf and by turning it up loud, she can "feel the music" from the bass beats. It turns out that they were at the show before and she couldn't wait to go again. I think I may have made it into the house before the floodgates opened up but I am not sure. If anyone of you decorators get to wondering why we do this, well, I found my reason this year!
Godbless everyone who has answered any of my dumb questions here or helped me accomplish this. Merry Christmas!

Post of the year for "Why we do it"

+1000 and God bless

[Slacker]

Just had my 'lump in the throat' moment. Doorbell rang a couple of hours ago. There were three or four cars with lots of teenage/college-age kids. Two were at my door. They told me each year they pick their 'favorite' home in Wilmington, NC and bring a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts to say thanks for all of the lights. Since this is my first year of animation, I never experienced that before. It was awesome.

Or course, my 16-channel animation is very basic (1st year) and not even in the same league as others in town. But I'm near a major shopping area (Mayfaire), so the kids can drive by my home easily.

Merry Christmas to everyone.