Here is rather lengthy post regarding our plans (or lack there of) for next year, and an update on what’s been collected for the Wilton Food Pantry.

Howdy Folks,

First of all, we hope you’re having an awesome Christmas! We certainly are! The layer of snow we received just before Christmas Day was perfect! What a blessing! Hopefully we’ll get some more soon.

Another blessing in which we’ve been happy to take part is the donations for the Wilton Food Pantry. So far you’ve all donated $597.75 as of December 27th, which is enough to purchase approximately 3736 pounds of food for those in need.

We wanted to give everyone a heads up about some news for next year. As some of you are already aware, we are expecting our first child this spring (no news on the gender yet, but we’re pretty sure it’s human). We’re both very excited and anxious to take on our new role as parents! As with any big life change, however, we’ve needed to do some shuffling of priorities. Along with the added financial expenses which a child brings, we’ve also found that our house simply isn’t set up for both a baby and running a business (Phil works from a home office). To remedy this we’re building a new garage with added office space this spring, thus freeing up a bedroom for the little one.

So as you can see, we have a lot of things changing at the Hilton house. Because of this, we have chosen to take at least one year off from the Halloween and Christmas light displays. After we have a year of parenting under our belt and some time to get comfortable with our new expenses we will re-evaluate and decide if we’re ready to take it on again. For the moment, however, we feel it is the right time to take a break.

We’ve already begun to feel the effects of this decision. It was very strange to see all of the after Christmas sales and realize that we don’t need to “stock up” on lights for next year. At the same time, however, we are looking forward to having more space to store display items in our new garage, and to sit in our living room and not hear the dull roar of revving car engines and radios turned up too loud. We’re sure that our neighbors will appreciate the break as well (the crowds have been significantly more rowdy this year, which concerns us).

So consider this our holiday lighting sabbatical. We look forward to returning refreshed with new ideas, new energy, and – eventually – a little helper ready to take on the family tradition.

But enough of the negativity… It’s still Christmas until January 6th (the 12th day), after all! As a reminder, if donations for the Wilton Food Pantry (either online or in the donations box on the display sign) reach $1000 by the 6th then we will run the lights for an extra night!

Lastly, don’t be surprised if you hear some more non-Christmas music in the display after January 1st. We like to mix things up in the new year!

As always, thank you for your support, and Merry Christmas!

Peace & Blessings,
Kim & Phil