Christmas Decorations

No, I don’t think of myself as a Christian-Buddhist. Just plain Buddhist, thanks. I still enjoy the holiday decorations of this time of year, so I like to decorate the house. Here are a few shots of the house at night for this year.

Front Porch

From the road

Almost full moon over the house, with the snowflake hanging on the chimney

I’m really happy with the lights this year. Not too many, not too few. There are lighted wreaths on each window that have multicolor lights, and one on the door with just white lights. White lights edge the roof, and surround the front picture window, framing the tree. There are multicolor C7 lights on the bush on the left of the picture, and multicolor mini lights and pearl lights on the bushes on the right. A 20″ snowflake with white lights hangs on the chimney. Small snowflakes hang from the eaves on either side of the chimney. You can’t see it in this pictures, but our little barn-like storage building is edged in white lights and has a snowflake as well. You might argue that displays of lights like this are contrary to buddhism, because it is materialistic, and I’d say then that you could make the same argument against any buddhist art. In the end, I think the whole argument is trivial. In a way though, I can see the lights as having one of the qualities of buddhism: I think back on my childhood and how happy it made me just to see pretty Christmas lights. I hope that the lights I strung along the eaves and over the bushes this year will bring that same simple joy to others, especially children. To me, bringing a bit of happiness to others, in such an innocent and harmless way, is completely in the spirit of loving-kindness. Maybe each little light is like a miniature stupa, and spread a little joy to all who see them. That’s my hope, anyway. So, Merry Chrismahanukwanzakah. And happy Bodhi Day, too.