This time of year, in the northern hemisphere at least, the weather is pretty bleak, so this house lit up on a dark night has a kind of welcoming hue.
It could be out in space, a shiny blob in a mass of other shiny blobs, the people proud of their little tree wanting to show it off discreetly to passers by.
The house could be an orb with a nucleus, the Christmas tree being an embryo of hope, a symbol of the family's expectations for the future, both forthright and yet modest, the molten light breaking from the darkened crust of the shadowy outer walls.
