I’ve never liked putting up the Christmas lights. Why? Well, because most of my experiences hanging them up are not quite as magical as Hallmark movies make them seem.

My family and I have the worst luck when it comes to the weather. Whether it be rain, snow, sleet, or wind—my family and I have somehow always ended up hanging lights with either one or a combination of two in attendance. 

For example, one particularly muggy and disastrous memory I have is that of the year that my father, mother, and I decided to put up the Christmas lights in the middle of a storm.

Now, when we decided to put up the lights it had only just started raining and—maybe a bit naively—we had hoped that the rain would either fizzle out or at least not get any worse. But subtly we began to notice the wind picking up, and the rain falling harder, and eventually, the storm grew so intense my mother and I abandoned my father to the elements in favor of not getting soaked. He has yet to forgive us. 

Another time, my brothers and I had just gotten back from school. We were tired, hungry, and generally apathetic—we didn’t want to do anything. But my mother had contrasting plans. She made us get off of the couch—where we were turning into butter—and had us get out the big ladder. 

Her plan for putting up the Christmas lights included hanging them off the top deck. The issue? It was around 12 feet off the ground, insanely windy outside, and somehow—despite my brothers knowing about my irrational fear of heights—I was the one who ended up on the ladder.

I distinctly remember them telling me to, and I quote, “Hurry up” and “Stop being a wuss.” To which I responded with an enthusiastic, “Then you climb up here!”

Over the years as we grew older, my brothers and I participated less in hanging up the lights with our mother. I saw it as a frivolous task, more of an inconvenience than a necessity. 

But this year changed that. Due to life circumstances, my mother, father, and brothers had less free time and things like decorating for Christmas fell by the wayside.

It especially hit my mother the hardest, as she’d always loved decorating for Christmas. So, one rainy afternoon, I asked my mother if she’d like to put up the Christmas lights together.

We ended up only doing the trees in front of our house this year, but even though it was cold, soggy, and slippery; in the end, what mattered to me was it made my mother happy.

I never liked putting up the Christmas lights, but if it makes those around me smile—either from memories or comical circumstances—it’s worth getting a little wet.