Bright brilliant blue lights in the shape of a Christmas tree sparkled on Bodkin Creek. Yellow lights strung along a pier reflected in the deep water. White lights framed the outline of a nearby sailboat. The Magothy River not to be left out was decked with red trees, blue trees, and silhouettes of boats in yellow lights. Rock and Stoney Creek joined the others in a display of gold lights around bulkheads and spiral lights resembling Christmas trees. We needed to get busy.
Climbing the ladder to the attic, boxes of lights were handed to me. My husband and I opened the boxes and plugged each string of lights in the wall socket making sure each worked. We donned wool hats, gloves, and coat as we headed for our pier to decorate our sailboat. Ice coated the wooden slats on the pier making it treacherous.
Armed with duck tape we cautiously made our way to the end. Grabbing the mooring lines, we pulled our boat close and jumped aboard. The halyard banged against the mast warning us that wind would be an obstacle. Hooking the ends of the lights to the jib halyard, we hoisted it up the mast. While it traveled, I hooked a string of cable clamps to the forestay. The dangling string, which my husband caught from the playful wind, was tied to the mast to give the illusion of a jib. Then heading to the stern, we pulled the lights up the backstay by using the main halyard. Reaching up the mast my husband taped the lights to it. I fought the cold wind as it tried to throw the lights overboard and I yelled at the wind to stop. “What?” my husband queried. I replied but my words were swept away by a gust. Seeing my plight my husband came to my aid to help attach the last of the lights to the boom to form a sail. He jumped off the pier and I gave the drum roll as he plugged the electric cord into the pier socket. Nothing. Absolutely not one light twinkled. Climbing back on board he rechecked the connections and plugged it in again. Nothing. We shook our heads and shivered from the wind that whipped down our necks. “The lights. The lights must be bad. Of course they failed after we strung them up.” We slowly walked back to the house to purchase new lights. “Maybe we should forget about the lights and use our boat for a Christmas tour of Pasadena.”
