My drive to work is usually an uneventful one (save for all the red light runners). However, on Thursday morning I got a bit of a surprise when I saw that Sauk Rapids is apparently moving the calendar ahead to Christmas in mid-August.

As I crossed the bridge over the Mississippi River to Benton Drive I was greeted by a trio of trees lit up in LED gloriousness. As I proceeded toward St. Cloud I observed another gaggle of brightly-lit Christmas trees as well. This is awesome!

I love summer as much as the next guy, but this one has been particularly hot and a bit too drought-y for my taste. I think I can confidently speak for everyone when I say we could use some cooler, snowier weather.

With that being said, I do think we could all stand to turn on our Christmas lights outside of the actual season once in a while. If we would just designate a few days throughout the year it would accomplish two things.

First of all it would provide light and happiness throughout the year. That would be neat I guess. Most importantly, it would mean not having to hang and take down Christmas lights every winter. We could just leave them up FOREVER!

So shout-out to Sauk Rapids for jump-starting our Christmas in August. It takes a true visionary to push the boundaries of the winter holiday season and I am glad we have one right here in our own backyard!

UPDATE: It turns out the lights aren't Christmas lights at all, just a cool feature the city has added to downtown. Either way, they look great!

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