Christmas lights are a breathtaking delight, but the holiday is about much more

Everyone has their own Christmas list of customs, filled with warm, nostalgic, sharing things that give their holidays meaning. My own long-term practice of cruising after dark to admire outdoor decorations is a common one.

But this exercise provided an emotional moment of even deeper import this season, something besides the usual like I've never experienced.

As I write, on a nearby side street are two neighboring homes. The more striking is a newer two-story brick construction, festooned with large wreaths tucked underneath the eaves in front and back. Numerous other routine touches here also bespeak a sizable upcoming electric bill.

Past this point, however, the stage manager outdid himself, as inside in the living room stands a tall tree bedecked with flashing colored lights, propped on a revolving turntable. That's new, and that aside from the front room, the rest are underlit inside in alternating red and green. This all matches the footlights illuminating the building exterior.

Super. But directly across the street in epic contrast is an older, smaller frame house. Visible here is only a simple tree in the front window, lit in plain yellow lights. Meh. Outside stand two figures of Mary and Joseph, with baby Jesus incorporated into the former. Both are lit from within by a single bulb; neither is much over 2 feet tall.

That's it. And yet, played off against the neighbors, it can knock a late-night Christian passerby flat.

Now were anyone to ask the ultra-energetic, upbeat and civically responsible homeowners what Christmas is all about, it's unclear how they might respond. There would be no need with the humbler home residents. They've gotten the message. I get it. Homeowners further down the block here and far beyond with other nativity scenes centered outside — they get it.

So have all the viewers who've made "A Charlie Brown Christmas" TV special an evergreen favorite. And for me to be sharing that sentiment with so many, well, that's as inspiring as it comes.

Tom Gregg, Niles

Disillusioned with the mayor

Like Donald Trump, Brandon Johnson is surrounding himself with incompetent people who have special interests — not the best interests of the city and people who elected him, such as myself.

By caving to the self-serving financial demands of the teachers union, whom I have supported and even marched with, and firing Pedro Martinez, he is both harming the schools and doing the things that give unions and the political machine a bad name (and I am a union member).

I am disappointed in him and feel embarrassed and sad for this wonderful city. The biggest surprise is that no one has asked me to sign a recall petition yet.

Paul Jones, Irving Park

President Musk?

In the run-up to this year’s presidential election, much ink and many electrons were used to discuss the various potential vice presidential candidates. Surprisingly, no one predicted what we actually ended up with, which is President Elon Musk leading Vice President Donald Trump by the nose.

Don Anderson, Oak Park