The lights went out one Christmas long ago

Christmas 1973 was a dark time in America.

The war in Vietnam had not yet ended. Neither had the traumatic national upheaval called Watergate.

But America was dark in another way.

It was the year without Christmas lights.

The energy crisis was peaking in late 1973. Earlier that year there were electricity brownouts across the country and prices for fuel were rapidly rising. In October, the Arab oil embargo pinched an already dwindling supply of fuel.

There were lines at gas stations — if there was any gas to sell. Some stations closed on Sundays.

Shreveport Times