40-Day Christmas Challenge | Day 32: Go See the Christmas Lights • Everyday Cheapskate

Tonight we’re going somewhere.

Don’t worry. You don’t need reservations. You don’t need tickets. You don’t need to buy anything. And if everyone wants to wear pajamas, I’m certainly not going to object.

We’re going to look at Christmas lights. That’s the whole assignment.

Today’s Challenge

Pick an evening, get in the car or head out on foot and go see the Christmas lights. Twenty minutes counts. An hour counts. One spectacularly decorated street counts.

We’re simply getting out long enough to enjoy what other people have spent an alarming amount of time untangling extension cords to create for us.

Do This Today

1. Decide when you’re going.

Tonight would be lovely. But if tonight doesn’t work, choose another evening.

The important part is turning We should go look at lights sometime into:

We’re going Thursday after dinner.

“Sometime” remains one of December’s least reliable appointments.

2. Keep it local.

Before searching for a giant ticketed light extravaganza, look around your own neighborhood. Maybe you already know the street. The house. The neighborhood that takes Christmas lights very seriously.

Drive there. Walk around your own block. Ask a friend or neighbor where they’ve seen a great display.

If you want to search online for local lights, great. But don’t assume the best ones require admission. Sometimes they’re three streets away.

3. Make leaving the house easy.

This is where the pajama part comes in.

If you’re driving, nobody needs to dress for an occasion. Kids can put on pajamas. Adults may exercise their own judgment. Grab coats if you need them. Bring hot chocolate if you’d enjoy it. Put on Christmas music. Go.

Please don’t decide you need special travel mugs, matching pajamas and a snack board before this can happen. We have been through this.

Quick Win

Can’t manage an outing?

Step outside tonight. Walk to the end of the street. Find one house with Christmas lights.

Stop and look at it for a minute. There.

Day 32 counts.

Don’t Turn Free Into Expensive

There’s nothing wrong with paying for a Christmas light attraction if that’s something you value and you’ve planned for it. Those can be wonderful outings. But today’s challenge doesn’t require one.

This is one of those Christmas pleasures that can cost almost nothing. If you’re driving, you’ll use a little gas. If you make cocoa, there’s that.

Otherwise, the entertainment has been generously installed on other people’s houses. Enjoy.

Spend where it matters. Skip what doesn’t.

Leave the Errands Out of It

Here’s a challenge within the challenge: Don’t turn the lights drive into an errand run.

I know. You’re already in the car. The store is right there. You could just pop in for tape. And milk. And that one stocking stuffer.

Unless you genuinely need something tonight, let the outing be the outing. Not every trip outside the house has to accomplish three things. This one gets to be fun.

You Don’t Have to Drive Anywhere

Walk around the block. Sit on the porch. Look out the window. Visit a decorated town square or neighborhood nearby.

The point isn’t the car. The point is taking a little time to notice Christmas happening around you.

Take the Picture. Then Put the Phone Away.

If you see something wonderful, take a picture. Absolutely. But you don’t need photographic documentation of every illuminated reindeer.

Take the picture. Then look out the window too.

Why It Matters

Christmas can become very inward-facing. Our gifts. Our lists. Our house. Our dinner. Our schedule.

Tonight we get to enjoy something someone else created. Maybe that person spent three weekends on the roof. Maybe they threw one string of lights over a shrub and called it good.

Either way, there’s something lovely about ordinary houses sparkling for a few weeks every year.

Go look. You don’t need to accomplish anything while you’re there.

Your Turn

Is there a house or neighborhood near you that goes completely overboard with Christmas lights every year? And I mean overboard as the highest compliment. Tell us about it in the comments. I’d especially love to hear about a display you’ve been visiting for years.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow we’re going back to the calendar we made earlier in the Challenge.

Not to add anything. Quite the opposite.

Plans that looked perfectly reasonable a few weeks ago can feel very different once Christmas is actually underway. We’re going to see whether something needs to move, shrink or simply come off the calendar.

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