Lights

This weekend, we pulled out the orange decorative lights and strung them up around the kitchen. This bit of fall color will stay up until the weekend after Thanksgiving, at which point they will be replaced with the multi-colored Christmas lights as well as additional lights around the staircase and the upstairs windows. Those stay up until Candlemas the kitchen lights are replaced with red for the upcoming Saint Valentine's Day and all of the other lights except the white ones around the staircase are put away. The red lights, in turn, are replaced after Valentine's Day with green lights for Saint Patrick's Day. Eventually the lights are taken down usually by the Vernal Equinox. 

I love the festive look that the lights give to the house. They also provide a significant "protection" against the growing darkness during this half of the year. While I'm glad that we don't keep them up throughout the entire year, I am glad to have them up for just about half of it.