Memories and Vegas Glitter

Blonde4ever discusses how her love for colourful bright lights draws her to Las Vegas.

When I was a little girl my living room was brown; the furniture was brown, the tables were brown and the carpet was brown. Brown, tan, coffee…whatever you want to call it. The room was boring, blah, nondescript. Even the walls were brown although I don’t think they were supposed to be, my parents were chain smokers so the constant cloud of smoke added its own hazy filter to the room. Every year in December a magic box would be dragged out of the attic and plopped in the middle of the living room. That box contained all the elements necessary to turn our living room into a thing of beauty; foil garland, glittery ornaments, and coloured lights. How I adored our living room then.

Of course, this was back in the day of real Christmas trees so my joy was always short lived. The tree would start dropping needles within a week so it would be removed and all vestiges of Christmas sparkle went back in the box. I can vividly remember lying on my back on the nasty brown carpet looking up at the glorious lights and sparkle of the tree and crying, because I knew it was meeting its demise the next day. I also wondered to myself who made up these stupid rules that your house could only be pretty for a week and I vowed to wreak vengeance on them when I grew up.

Fast forward to adulthood and I am happy to report that my living room is decorated in red and green. No. For real. It is. I also leave some Christmas decorations up year round. In addition to those, there are multiple shiny, glittery knick knacks adorning my room. Take that you people from the 60’s!

Here is a picture of a Christmas candle with Spring flowers around it…it is multi-seasonal now!

There are lots of shiny “objets d’art” in my living room!

I have also come to realize that my obsession with coloured lights and glitter has a lot to do with my love of Las Vegas. The first time I visited in 1991 I was amazed. There are coloured lights up year round here! There is glitter everywhere and no one takes it down when Christmas is over! What kind of miraculous place is this!?

I am one of the many who is saddened every time an old sign comes down. While the LED screens are eye-catching, almost to the point of being blinding at times, they have nothing of the beauty of the older signage. I certainly appreciate the Neon Museum’s efforts to preserve those signs, but there is something lacking when you see them on the ground in a lot, instead of high atop a casino in all their glory. One of the many reasons that I spend most of my time downtown now is to enjoy the remaining signs while I still can. The day is coming when everything will be “renovated” and the old Vegas glitter will be regulated to our memories. What a sad day that will be.

[Photos: Blonde4ever]

Blonde4ever

Bonnie, aka Blonde4ever, is the admin of one of our favorite Vegas forums: LasVegas4ever. She covers a large spectrum of topics from her personal experiences in Las Vegas.