Perhaps residents of the Upper Valley, especially long time Valley residents, think that luminarias are too difficult to contend with or are too dangerous.

The standard and traditional use of luminarias during the holiday season is to fill a small brown paper bag... the kind that we send our kids off to school with... or used to before that became passe.

You put some sand or dirt at the bottom and place a small and more importantly short candel at the bottom. That's it.

If it's not blowing at hurricane force all you do is light them after sunset and they will just burn out around midnight.

But, now there are electic luminarias for those who don't want the extra work or can't keep an eye on them... or can't climb the roof to light them... ONLY if you have a stucco or rock wall. And you can see from the photos that one or two strands of eletric luminarias make all the difference. They do make a great match with the little star lights that are usually white or yellow.

We saw one home that used the star lights but had a stand of red bulb lights along the sidewalk and walkway to the house... instead of luminarias. The result was not very welcoming. This would not have been even conceived in early days. Remember, it is not the amount of lights or the number of characters that you display... it is all about making your home look warm and inviting.

So plan ahead and get your whole block to get on board. Next year we may be taking photos of your house/block/neighborhood.

  (Photos: Brax - Valley Publishing Company)

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