Christmas lights with your glasses off

Undeniably one of integral parts of Christmas for me. Removing ones glasses and relaxing the eyes turns an already pretty Christmas tree into a divine object upon which a hundred multicolored angels rest. When I was young I could stare at the tree for an hour; by squinting in a certain way and blinking at correct moments I could make the angels dance.

Anyone who wears spectacles will probably remember doing this when they were young, sometimes because they were so excited to see what was under the tree Christmas morning they forgot to grab their glasses before they ran down the stairs. I still do this when I manage to get home for the holidays.

This is one of the few pleasures reserved for those with poor eyesight

My wife does this every year. She has amazingly poor eyesight, just within the range of correctability. She removes her glasses to look at the tree. She says while she cannot see the ornaments, the lights blossom into little globes of magical fire, suns and stars, as if she were looking at "God's Christmas tree."

If I squint in a certain way and blink at the correct moments, I can almost see them too. I'll keep my OK eyesight and my fanciful wife to see those magic things for me.