It’s begining to look a lot like Christmas.

My Aunt Annie and Uncle Tom live on the edge of a river overlooking a small, school bus sized island covered with evergreens and marsh grass. Yup. It’s amazing.

For years, my cousin John has talked about decorating one of the trees with Christmas lights. Great idea, right? But, as you can imagine, running electrical chords and battery packs to marshy island in the middle of a river can be, well, problematic. Enter solar powered twinkle lights…

After a quick trip to Home Depot and the world’s shortest canoe ride, John and I waded through ankle-deep mud to string solar lights around one of the trees. The sun set a few hours later and suddenly it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

OK, so, it looks a little more like a Christmas bush than a Christmas tree. Stringing the lights up high wasn’t an option. Ladders and canoes don’t mix.

Side note: Have you tried solar lights lately? I was disappointed with my purchase a couple years ago (they were expensive and didn’t give off half as much light as the plug-in variety) but technology has come a long way in two years! They are still a little more expensive than standard string lights, but they are every bit as bright. And more convenient too –the lights automatically turn on at sunset and fade a few hours later (timing depends on how much light and energy they absorb that day). I can’t speak to the quality of every brand on the market, but for what it is worth, I can tell you we were very impressed with these solar icicle lights from GE.  If anyone else has recommendations, please chime in the comments –I am going to go out and buy some as soon as I get home.