– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young – - I’m not a stalker, I swear

– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young –

I can be a bit of a Grinch, when it comes to Christmas; for one reason, it all starts so early. This year, for example, my comfort show, The Golden Girls, was taken off the air of Hallmark Channel in the middle of October, so they could play non-stop holiday movies.

That just seems a little premature, to me. I mean, we hadn’t even gotten to Halloween yet. In fact, as I was coming home from the Haunted Trail in Holcombe, the day after Halloween, someone had their Christmas lights blazing already.

Fortunately, eggs are expensive and I love Christmas lights, so that house remained unscathed.

Every year, I do look forward to putting up a tree, with decorations, lights and dangling tinsel. The tinsel totally makes it. Sure, you find the strands in weird places at inconvenient times, like when you discover it clinging to your sweater at a ballgame or hanging off your rear end when stopping for gas.

The best thing about Christmas, is seeing all the lights festooning houses, parks and businesses. I always wanted some on our house, but we had only one outlet on the exterior of the building and to have them on, we would have to have the porch light flicked on constantly. Mom couldn’t stand the thought of the expense.

Now, I might risk it – but the outlet quit working. My friend kindly informed me it wasn’t supposed to do that. To quote Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, “I had nooooo idea!!”

So, I have to enjoy other people’s displays. Many go to Irvine Park, in Chippewa Falls, to see lights and while I also enjoy that, I generally stick a little closer to home. There are some terrific displays in, and around, Cadott, Cornell, Holcombe and Gilman, if you just get out at night for a drive and look for them.

If you really don’t want to hunt for a display, then you have a couple choices to see some in a central location. Cadott’s Lions Club does an incredible job putting up lights in the West Riverview Park and yes, you can drive through it. I swing through a few times each Christmas season and if you want to see something really cool, go the “back way” on North Main Street.

The lights shine like crazy on the ice or water of the river, weather depending.

Then, there is the park display at Gilman. If you’ve never seen them, you are missing a huge treat. It takes many hours and many hands to get that display ready for the holiday season, but it’s so worth it.

You can partially drive through to see some of the displays, while others are accessed by walking. They draw in a ton of people and who can blame them? For having such a small population, Gilman does everything so wonderfully.

It’s not just the bright, flashy, big displays that appeal to me, but the simple ones. The big evergreen tree at Cornell’s city park is decorated with light strings, no other adornments, but it’s magical. Same with the lighted garland strung across the highway by the trestle bridge. They’re so elegant, but not ostentatious.

I promise I’m not casing the house or stalking anyone, if you see me slowly driving by your place, I’m just enjoying your Christmas lights and appreciate the effort you put in, and as Mom would say, “Imagine the light bill.”

Whether 10,000 lights or 100, you don’t have to travel far to enjoy Christmas displays. We have beautiful things right here in our own back yards.