"On Broadway"

My new screen saver at work is a black and white photo, circa 1965, of the main street in my home town. It's a winter scene. Snow is on the pavement and sidewalks. Cars are parked diagonally on both sides of the street. And, it's Christmas Time, because across each and every intersection, along the whole length of the mile-long business district, are stars, garlands, shiny tinsel and hundreds of lights.
I love looking at this dated picture of the Christmas decorations in my small Midwestern town. It's been a highlight of the Holiday Season. Seeing that photo gives me all kinds of happy remembrances of Christmases all those years ago. Every time I sit down to my computer, I think of some long ago event that shaped my life today.
Those lights remind me of shopping trips to Kresses and Montgomery Ward, with my mom and much older sister. They remind me of my Girl Scout Troop singing Christmas Carols in the second floor window of Little's Department Store. They remind me on going to Midnight Mass. I think about all of the gifts I begged for and just had to have.
I'm reminded of all the different cars we had growing up, and riding in them, up and down that lighted main street.
For many years now, I have lived in a large metropolitan area that has a world famous display of Christmas Lights. People travel from all over the country and abroad to see the fabulous Plaza Lights. I agree that they are a truly spectacular sight.
However, I know that I would trade them, in an instant, for a view of the "not so famous" lights on Broadway, in Pittsburg, Kansas.