A lonely house learns holiday cheer

Houses love holidays. That is true for most houses, particularly those that get decorated. Even a wreath on the front door is considered a nice decoration. Some homeowners do even more than that. They decorate both sides of their front doors with festive ribbons and figurines.

We once drove through a neighborhood with the front door of every house beautifully decorated. It was really impressive and so beautiful until we got to the end of the block. That last house had no decorations, no lights, and looked sad and dark. The reason she was left like that was her owners had left to spend Christmas with one of their children’s families. The house was left all alone with no decorations, and she was very sad and depressed.

Being deprived of any Christmas cheer and fun, that poor place got so depressed her furnace quit working, her electricity turned off and her water pipes froze. By Christmas Eve that house was in terrible trouble. Just in time one of her owners came home to pick up a present that had been forgotten. That owner opened his front door and was shocked at how cold the inside of his house was.

He rushed to the thermostat to turn up the heat, and nothing happened. He tried to turn on the lights, but the dark got darker. By then both the house and the owner were really worried. He finally found his phone and called his family and told them what was happening. Then he called the electrical company and begged to have his power turned back on. When the power came on, the furnace roared back to life. It took until morning for the water pipes to thaw, and that poor place could finally become a home again.

The owner was so relieved to have his house become a home again he called his family and asked if they would come back home to celebrate the holiday. They said “yes,” and home they came. That house was so happy, and when decorations were added both inside and out, that place literally began to shine.

From that day forward, the once-neglected house became the brightest and happiest house in that neighborhood for years and years and still counting. From that house and my house, happy holidays to all.

Laura Moore can be emailed at lehmoore1@gmail.com.