Let there be "Lights"

Got a case of the Christmas crazies? Want to get off the merry-go-round for a few hours?

How about a stiff dose of solid holiday values?

You’d never guess. But no fewer than an estimated one million lights depict Christmas American style in rural Stanwood, maybe 12 miles east, off I-5, exit 206, the Smokey Point turnoff.

The place is a Yuletide feast for the eyes called “Lights of Christmas.”

Plus, this year, for the first time, it is also a symphony for the ears featuring actors interpreting the writing voice of Robert Fulghum, Minister Emeritus of the Universal Unitarian Church in Edmonds, who is also the world-renowned author of “All I Ever Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten” and “UH-OH, Here Comes Christmas.”

So what exactly is the connection between “Lights” and Fulghum?

Fulghum’s “UH-OH” tops off the dinner theater you sit down to after taking in “Lights.”

Picture walkways through a wonderland of tiny, colored lights dotting out a pair of lumberjacks cross-sawing a log of Ponderosa pine in two for the Christmas fire in their mountain cabin.

See a trio of angels blessing swans and the bellied-out sails of skiffs on an undisturbed lake at the foot of a lighthouse.

Surrender your skepticism to pagodas, temples, mosques and churches on a hillside co-existing together peacefully.

Contemplate the Nativity scene that all walkways lead to.

Also, hear carolers. Warm your insides with donuts and cider. Hand-wave back to a friendly, roving snowman. Ride the covered wagon pulled by Clydesdales. Chat with Bruce The Talking Spruce. Pet live goats, lambs and llamas.

Then sit down and sit back to “UH-OH” after French Onion Soup followed by an entrée of Prime Rib or Pesto Salmon and a scrumptious dessert, Torte with Raspberry Drizzle.

Essentially, “UH-OH” has actors interacting with Fulghum’s writings as excerpted from other works, principally, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”

The material is ordinary, pet peeves we are all familiar with when Christmas has come and gone: what to do with the ungodly heap of leftovers no fridge can possibly accommodate, how in good conscience to get rid of the poinsettia your best friend gave you and that just goes on and on without end taking up space; stuff and nonsense like that.

The tone is light, funny, emotionally honest; the vignettes, true to life; the performance, pleasant, easy on the nerves. It puts a nice finishing touch on the rosy glow over everything that goes on before.

Warm Beach Christian Camps and Conference Center has been hosting “Lights” for ten years. Artistic designer Laurie Feretello garnered ideas for the holiday spectacular after scouting Nashville Opryland’s “Christmas in The Park.”

However, Feretello will be handing the reins over to “Lights” Director Keith Yarter starting next year. She plans to work full time designing WBCC programs for youth.

“Lights” is a bright, happy place to be. Not every single facet that goes with it needs to line up with everybody’s personal beliefs. But it is hard to imagine friendlier, more hospitable people coming from a good place. The message that came through to me is “Tidings of Comfort and Joy.”