One of my absolute favorite things about the Christmas season is putting up the lights, whether it is on the house, or inside around the house. My husband humors me every year and pulls the three, yes three large tubs out of the garage attic, sets up his large extending ladder and climbs it so that he can string those soft white lights just for me. I know that he loves me because he does NOT love hanging lights but does it for me each year.  We are not the first to hang our lights but we are the first to turn them on and the last to store them away for the year.  There is just something about the soft glow of twinkling lights during the dark days of winter.  I have my patio lights up all year, turning them on each night just to have that warm feeling during the dark.  I'm positive I would survive in the dark north only if I could have my Christmas and patio lights up all the time.  One of my favorite things is to turn on the tree, the outside lights, open the curtains and curl up on the couch with a cup of coffee and a book and just soak the light up. I miss the days when the kids were excited about it and at first I thought that was why I put up the Christmas lights, however as I get older, I realize that it's because of my need for light during the dark.  I've been thinking about this a lot.  John needs it to be pitch black in the room in order to sleep.  The clock faces the wall so that the little bit of light doesn't wake him up and the curtains need to be flush against the wall to keep the light out.
 I remember once as a child, it was dark in my room. We had wooden shutters that blocked all light from coming in. I woke up and tried to find my way out of the room but the door wasn't were I thought it was and I couldn't find the handle.  I kept trying to locate it on the wall and panicked. I started to cry and then scream, I couldn't get out.  It turned out that I was disoriented, I was looking for the door on the wrong wall.  Even now, I like that little bit of light peaking in the room, just enough for me to make out where I am.  When John goes out of town, I usually sleep with the curtains open a bit, just for that tiny bit of light.