My neighbour’s Christmas lights have started their annual performance: a full orchestral laser collision of colour, brightness, and questionable life choices.
You know the ones.
The lights that don’t just twinkle, they behave.
Perfect synchronisation.
Perfect timing.
Perfect choreography.
They’re the type of lights that clearly attended rehearsals.
And every evening, like clockwork, the street gathers outside for Act One: soft warm LEDs blooming in minimalist waves, retro golden tones humming with nostalgia, a sparkle show so coordinated it makes the Olympic opening ceremony look underfunded.
Children gasp.
Adults film.
Dogs reconsider their career choices.
Meanwhile, across the street, another house does its best.
One loose strand of blue LEDs hangs from two rusty nails.
Half the bulbs have given up entirely.
The other half flicker like they’re communicating distress signals.
It’s chaos.
It’s honesty.
It’s Christmas.
And I’ll tell you something you already know: people LOVE that house more.
Because as dazzling as the perfect display is…it’s the imperfect one that feels familiar.
It’s the one that reminds us of the boxes of tangled wires we swear we packed correctly last year.
The bulbs that don’t glow until you threaten them.
The timer that refuses to turn on at 6 p.m. despite being SET to turn on at 6 p.m.
The desperate attempt to create magic using equipment that is clearly haunted.
And standing there on the pavement, watching these two houses, something clicked, this is exactly what December feels like for auditors.
Not the glossy version people outside the industry imagine.
Not the “quiet” year-end where everyone thinks we’re just sipping hot chocolate and gently typing into Excel.
No.
We are the flickering house and flickering as best we can to hit year end deadlines
Holding everything together with cable ties and hope.
Lighting up whatever we can, wherever we can, even if half the bulbs are emotionally unavailable.
Trying endlessly, sincerely, to make something shine for people who don’t always see the effort it took.
Because December does something to auditors.
It stretches us.
Thins us out.
Pulls on every part of our patience, energy, and sense of humour, because there is that large and very unavoidable deadline of 31.12.25
And here’s the secret no one says out loud:
Both houses matter.
Both houses count.
Both houses are trying.
You don’t need to be perfect to be seen.
You don’t need to sparkle on cue to have value.
You don’t need to glow in harmony to belong.
This season is heavy.
We carry clients, deadlines, families, pressure, expectations.
We carry ourselves even on days when we feel like a frayed wire away from giving out.
But look at the street again.
People admire the perfect house.
But they love the imperfect one.
The one that shows effort instead of precision.
Heart instead of harmony.
It reminds us that the world doesn’t need us to get it all right.
It just needs us to show up with whatever light we have.
So if you’re tired…really tired this December, if your glow is a little uneven, if your energy flickers at inconvenient moments, you’re not failing.
You’re human.
And honestly?
Some of the most beautiful things in life never synchronise at all.
Until next week,
Christiaan
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