AND THERE WAS LIGHT

LET THERE BE LIGHTS AND WITH THE FLICK OF A SWITCH THE OLD PLAZA BECOMES A LIVING CHRISTMAS CARD

WE HEAR THE CHRISTMAS CAROLS AS WE PILE OUT OF THE JEEP Cherokee, buttoning our jackets against the nippy pine-scented mountain air. Considering the crowd at Prescott's picturesque turn-of-the-century Courthouse Plaza, we can't believe we found a parking spot so close.

For days down in Phoenix, we'd been excited about rediscovering the joys of an old-fashioned Christmas at the traditional Courthouse Lighting Ceremony in a place so nostalgic it's known as "Everybody's Hometown."

We join the sing-along on the wide expanse in front of the courthouse, a soaring granite edifice with Doric columns marching across its august facade. In the growing darkness, we can barely make out the huge garlands looping around it or see how the 1870s bandstand is decked out.

People stand around, laughing, stumbling through unfamiliar second verses, asking where you're from. A young father with a towheaded youngster on his shoulders wants to know if we've seen the Victorian houses in the historic district(we have, that's why we late). The carols and the brief narration, he confides, are a prelude to what everyone's come to see. Then it happens.

Someone throws a switch, and the courthouse is awash with light, illuminating the red and green decorations and the choir that lent its more practiced voices to the singing. Thousands of tiny colored lights strung through the trees flicker tolife. We're in a living Christmas card in Smalltown, U.S.A.

Grown-ups applaud and kids stare wide-eyed. Everyone oohs and ahs. After a few moments, a cyclist in a Santa Claus suit pedals past the Plaza, drawing cheers and waves. Still smiling, everyone begins to drift toward home or the vehicle thatwill carry them there.

Us, too, but first, hands warming around mugs of hot chocolate in the historic Hassayampa Inn down the street, we agree this trip was a great idea. And next year we'll arrive in time to see the Christmas parade earlier in the day.

Author's Note: This year's Lighting Ceremony will take place Saturday, December 3 at 7 P.M.; the parade around the Plaza will begin at 1 P.M. For more information, telephone the Prescott Chamber of Commerce, (602) 445-2000 or toll-free, 1 (800) 266-7534.