It looks like a tradition is being established: I travel to NJ for Christmas. Except for when Christmas falls on Wednesday, this seems to be an emerging pattern. I stay with my friends Jeri and Sabine in Bloomfield, who always open their doors and the spare BR to me, and then spend a few days visiting with the boys as they gather with their in-law families, and with some of my old friends here.
This year was much the same. I drove down on the 23d, made endless phone calls and lined up all the visits. The differences between NJ and VT are small, large, and endless. For instance, phone numbers. Not every phone number is stashed in my cell phone. But most NJ people don't bother to buy white pages anymore, and Directory Assistance costs money. So I had to resort to whitepages.com to get local phone numbers. What if I’d had no computer connection?? Just strange.
On the other hand, in NJ Christmas lights abound, which can't be said for the far reaches of the Vermont countryside. For many years the house and yard in Nutley was a showstopper. Then that display stopped. Was it too expensive? Did the property change hands? I have no idea. But all is not lost. Now there's a property in Clifton, on Grove St right by Route 3, that has stepped up, in living color. If it hadn’t rained all day Christmas Day and the day after, I would’ve had time to go out in the evening and take pictures of NJ Christmas lights.
Randolph, VT can compete with NJ thanks to the Armstrong home, whose yard lights are almost exclusively candy canes. A forest of electric candy canes. And there's a house on School Street whose uphill driveway is crammed with figures and lights of all sorts. I love those houses. A whole block is too much. But the one lit-up-beyond-belief house is a testament to the delight we feel seeing so many lights at this dark time of year.
I might still get Christmas light pictures from Vermont. But right now we have to be delighted with the memory of Nutley.
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