Now we have reached the darkest of days – the time when both the before and after work walks start and end in the dark. Never in my life have I appreciated holiday lights more, and understood more that they aren’t just festive, they are downright essential. Thank you to all the crazy people in the neighborhood with their over the top holiday displays, but also to those who strung a single strand of light down a railing or just put up a few red ribbons. It’s kind of everything as we wind down the last long dark days of this long dark year.