You Can't Go Back..

They say you can't go back. Yes, I know this is true, but a part of me still wishes it was true. Let me explain...
I'm up in Gatlinburg, Tennessee this week. James and I flew up on Wednesday for a visit with my mom. Since we won't be traveling during the holidays, this is our Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years all rolled into one. When I was growing up, my parents owned a house and a couple of chalets in this mountain tourist-trap. We would drive up to Gatlinburg a couple times a month and celebrate some major holidays up here. Needless to say, I have a lot of fond memories in this small, highly-populated and over-priced little town!
Anyway, one of the highlights of this trip was to be the millions upon millions of holiday lights that blaze up the town every winter. Just imagine if Clark Griswald himself were in charge of decorating the city's lights and that's what it looked like. There were gazillion upon gazillion glowing holiday scenes, lights on every streetlight, tree, building, structure, anything that was stationary was aglow! There were magical displays of presents, larger than life trains, trees, marching nutcrackers and bears (it's in the mountains!) It was just beautiful and made the holiday season seem super festive!
So, imagine my dismay when I drove around yesterday after nightfall (grocery store run after James fell asleep!) and didn't see the festive lights of my childhood.
Instead, the city of Gatlinburg has replaced the larger than life, glowing displays with these cheap-looking LED displays. Now, I'm all for a cheaper electric bill and going "green", but at what expense? This little town used to literally light up with festive-ness. Now, these new LED lights can't compete with the brightly lit "old school" lights on some buildings who are obviously hold-outs from earlier times.
No, they say you can't go back and it's true. I was soo looking forward to sharing the bright lights and big displays with my little boy and watching his face light up with glee, but I'm afraid the pastel glow of the new lights won't be enough.
We'll see. The Christmas parade is tomorrow night (can we say BURRR!) and I'm truly hoping that the parade hasn't gone "green" too. It just may be too much for me to handle. (j/k)
Is this why people get depressed during the holiday season? Are they comparing it to the memories of the past and the present just can't compete?