Bubble Lights (Journal)

Hello everyone, today I'm writing to tell you about something I've heard about but I had never seen until this year. Bubble lights. My dad has mentioned these lights to me before, he's always nostalgic about them around Christmas, since they use to adorn his childhood Christmas tree. I had heard of them, but I had never seen them.

My dad described them as lights with glass containers that made bubbles. Me, being me, I thought he meant that they blew bubbles out while hanging on a tree. Total misconception and misunderstanding on my part. My sister had mentioned that she had sold a pair earlier at work this month and my dad became somewhat desperate to find them.

Earlier this month, last weekend, I think, we were at Shopko. We've been taking weekly weekend trips to various stores in our area to get a look at their Christmas decorations. Well, at Shopko we found the bubble lights. I saw that they were glass tubes with different colored liquid, still confused, I thought they made colored bubbles but I didn't say anything. Anyway, my sister bought my dad a strand of them. He was absolutely giddy, for a man in his 50's missing two toes and having just recovered from surgery it was hilarious to see the spring in his step and happiness in his gait and face. He was excited, super excited, I can't help but wonder if maybe he was taken back to a time when he was a kid with his siblings and parents.

My dad isn't one to open up about his feelings, but I do wonder from time to time. Anyway, my sister got him a set as a Christmas gift. We got home and began to finish decorating the tree. We had put it up the weekend before but we realized that a few of our lights were out and needed to be replaced, so it wasn't until last weekend that we were finally able to decorate. I opened the box of bubble lights and my sister and I placed them on the tree.

It was beautiful to see the lights, especially the bubble lights but I was disappointed that they didn't blow bubbles. My dad and sister got a kick when I told them that I had thought they blew bubbles. But they are beautiful and add a certain look to our tree. While the top is bent a little, because it's just a tad too tall, it's still our tree with the garland, lights, mulicolored and white, and the various ornaments that we've collected over the years. Even mine and my sister's personal collection are proudly displayed. The three snow globes that typically adorn the bottom of the tree, were joined by two newcomers this year. A set of penguins and white owls, my first snow globe.

The tree looks lovely with it's mismatched eclectic style but it's ours all the same. And my sister plans to get a bubble machine next year for the tree. I can't wait to see my family enjoy their gifts on Christmas, while I know the gifts that I've gotten I'm still happy to be able to spend the day with my sister and parents.

Hopefully, I'll have another journal or short story to share for you guys later this week. I kinda want to post little pieces throughout the next few weeks to make up for lack of posting this month.

-ADF

P.S. To those who don't know what bubble lights look like, here's a picture.