Here at Mackenzie-Childs we are all decked out and waiting for the snow. As I wrote in a previous blog, we went all out this year, we planned a huge campus lighting event and it went off really well. We are quite excited. We wanted to up the lights but were challenged to not increase the electrical draw. John, our electrical guy, said we did not have any room in the fuse boxes in the farmhouse (like I even wanted to understand what THAT meant). So, we went green. Not green lights but green-eco friendly LED lights!

We were extremely particular stringing the lights on the Courtly Check Courtyard trees and the trees flanking the archway. Based on the maximum of nine strings in the trees from previous years (anymore and breakers tripped) we budgeted a generous, we thought, 12 per tree. However, as we started navigating the trees with our super-macho boom lift (oh yeah, add that to our resumes) we added more; justifying with the theory that it was supposed to last for a few years. The last days we had the lift I spent not inconsiderable time on the internet and phone trying to find local sources for LED lights similar to the ones we bought on line because we needed just 20 more strands. Not easy, apparently everyone else was trying to be cutting edge too. We persevered and the results were phenomenal.

After we finished the lights we switched gears to hanging garlands, arranging greens, decorating and hanging wreaths, and creating medallions. Last year, I decided to change green suppliers and found the Best Wreath Maker in NYS, really-she has won the State Fair Competition, to make our garlands and wreaths. Corinne decorates them and Doug hangs them. We are a little concerned about the longevity of the greens this year because we put them up two weeks earlier and it has been UNNATURALLY warm.
The week of the lighting Corinne and I ran a dress rehearsal to make all the lights come on at once. We continued tweaking through the week, sometimes staying late to see lighting after dark, sometimes returning after supper to put lights on the big evergreen because you really could not see the holes in the daylight.

The Big Night Arrived. Father Christmas gathered the visitors around the very dark tree in the middle of the very dark circle. I was stationed where I could see the entire gathered crowd- there were so many- at least 300 people, I started tearing up, I think I was really tired. We had all worked so long and so meticulously I had been afraid we would only get a handful of people so it was very gratifying to see so many people there to join the celebration. It was most heartwarming to see the number of our fellow employees who gave up part of their weekend to come back with their families to see the lighting of the campus. Father Christmas read a poem, the appointed time, 6:21pm arrived, and we flipped, plugged and tripped switches, extension cords, and breakers to accomplish the (almost) simultaneous lighting of all of campus. It is so beautiful! Corinne and I have started la list of what we need to add to the list for next year…