Taking down the lights

Today, the weather was finally warm enough on a weekend for us to take down the Christmas lights from the house. Without the lights, the world seems a little darker this time of year, but they have to come down.

The kids always enjoy the opportunity to get up on the roof to help. Now that Andrew is a teenager, I think he likes the danger and responsibility of it all, as well as the chance to get his hands dirty and do a little "man's work". And Amber? It's a new perspective and, perhaps, she feels closer to God. And when you feel closer to God, you don't really want to move away from that. That must be why it's so hard to coax her down once we're done.

I'll admit, even I find some joy in climbing the ladder up to the rooftop for this chore. It moves faster than hanging the lights in November, so it's not quite as tedious. I took a few moments to snap off a few pictures of the yearly event with the kids.

I let Andrew remove them from the gutter while I wind them up and box them on the ground below. That way, we don't risk dragging them across the shingles and scratching off the paint from the lights. We gotta keep 'em blue.

Amber is literally at the top of the world when she climbs up on the roof. I think this picture is proof that she's living for the moment. And it's moments like this that make being a dad a pretty cool thing.