Keep the festivity going awhile

Are your lights still up? Are they still on?

They are at our house.

As far as I’m concerned, outdoor Christmas lights should send their message out into the night 24 hours a day from Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day.

My wife, who is much smarter than I am and much more interested in energy conservation, would let the timer do its thing. She’s just as much in the holiday spirit as I am, but she’d be content with dusk to dawn or something similar.

I’m OK with that in the weeks leading up to Christmas Eve, but when the big day is upon us I want to go all out.

Having said that, I have to admit that our outdoor lights are pretty modest — at least by the standards set by Hollywood movies and TV commercials.

We stick with one color, white. Bushes around the front door are lit up nicely, and in the backyard, where we planted a four-trunk river birch in the spot once graced by an ash tree, we have more white lights hooked up to a remote control switch.

December’s gloom settles in, and I click the remote to turn on the lights in the backyard. Moments later the timer turns on the lights in the front.

It’s especially satisfying to come down to the kitchen to make the breakfast coffee and pour out our morning helping of V-8 and be able to reach over and turn on the backyard Christmas lights. Sometimes you need every little lift you can get on a December morning.

Putting up the lights was, of course, a team effort.

My wife was in charge for obvious reasons; she knew what she was doing. I did my best to assist, particularly where it came in handy to have long arms and a bit of height. Still I screwed up now and then.

It’s become a standing joke at our house for me to say, “I always do what I’m told.” That’s because, like any husband, I don’t.

And there are some things I don’t even attempt to do.

Ever buy a set of those Christmas lights that come in a net form?

First time around, they are great — though they never seem to cover as much space as you thought they would in the store — then after New Year’s Day you have to put them away at some point.

Getting the monster back in the box is impossible. And it’s doubly impossible if more than one person is involved.

So, at our house, my wife — did I mention that she’s smarter than I am? — is the designated person for carefully folding up the net lights, putting them away for a year, and getting them out again when the holidays roll around. My role is limited to getting the things over the taller bushes by the front door; did I mention that I have long arms?

All of this, of course, is a matter of taste.

When I was a kid, the lights at our house were red and green. So were the lights on every other house on the block.

White lights are kind of a late 20th-early 21st century phenomenon.

They have since been supplanted by inflatables: Santa, reindeer, elves, you name it.

To each his own.

The important thing — to me at least — is that your holiday displays stay up just a few more days.

Christmas may be behind us, but let’s keep the festivity going through New Year’s Day.