You’ve heard of Santa’s helpers – who work till Christmas night.
But have you heard of Sparkle – the most famous Christmas light?
The Lypka family certainly heard of Sparkle The Christmas Light, and for years it literally lit up the holidays in our house.
For those unaware, Sparkle was the greatest Christmas light ever created. Its exact origins are not totally clear but from what I’ve discovered, the light was released sometime in the mid to late 1980s.
Originally advertised on television, the light eventually made its way to Canadian stores. Sparkle was an oversized red light with a big smiling face and a gold crown on his head.
The best part of Sparkle was definitely his theme song. My siblings and I would continuously play the song on cassette and gaze in amazement at the way Sparkle would flash along with the tune.
But all the flashing stopped abruptly one year – a year my brother and I refer to as the worst Christmas ever.
Every year, my brother, sister and I would argue over who would get to place Sparkle on the tree. It was usually a fight just to see who would get the chance to take him out of the box.
I remember returning home with my dad and brother one year as Christmas approached to see that my mother and sister had set up all of the festive displays around the house.
There was the ornaments I made as a child, the raccoon paper plate I decorated with green tissue paper and other things my siblings made that weren’t so great.
As I entered the indoor winter wonderland, I noticed the Christmas tree. I scanned over the tree and looked for Sparkle. Why not? He’s the most famous Christmas light, after all.
After minutes of unsuccessfully locating Sparkle, I asked my mother where he was and I’ll never forget her haunting reply.
“Sparkle’s broken and we can’t put him back together,” she said.
She informed me that my overzealous sister had been playing with Sparkle and dropped him. He was shattered into dozens of pieces.
The lovely crown was still intact but the smile was destroyed, much like my Christmas joy for that year.
My sister wept as my brother and I interrogated her about what happened to our beloved Sparkle, but the damage was done – Sparkle was gone… forever.
Almost every Christmas after, we searched for a new Sparkle in stores but the item was nowhere to be found. My sister ruined Christmas that year, but our family will never forget the joy that Sparkle brought to us.
Every year when Christmas comes around, I look on the shelves of stores for Sparkle but it’s never there. However, we’ll always have that timeless classic song, available on cassette, to soothe our pain and remember the good times when that red light brought smiles to our faces.
Sparkle the Christmas light, smiles when the children play
He sees the girls and the boys when they find their toys – every Christmas day
