When I was about 21 years old, I lived on Hartford Ave. and was employed at Barney's Harvest Foods as the produce manager. It was one of the early years that they were recognizing people who decorated their homes and I was committed to having one of the nicest displays in town.

The yard had two huge spruce trees in front and I had borrowed a ladder from work to decorate them. However, it wasn't tall enough to get the lights to the top. Russ Card was helping me decorate and his pickup was in the yard. I pulled my pickup into the yard and put the ladder in the back of it in an attempt to reach higher, but it still wasn't quite high enough. Then I tried moving the pickup to reposition the ladder. On the bumpy ground, the ladder fell over and shattered Russ's windshield. He heard the noise, looked back and shooked his head like "what an idiot" and just kept hanging lights.

Needless to say, it was an expensive year for lights by the time I paid the $300 for his new windshield and I didn't even get honorable mention. That would come in later years.

Jeff Wilson (reprinted from 2010)

We Wish You the Merriest Christmas & Happy New Year

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