The new traffic lights will take getting used to, like the ones at Routes 1 and 27 have. But those are old hat now and the ones near the bridge eventually will be, too.

Patience with the state and motorists is good. The lights are a significant change to a widely travelled spot.

We knew it would look different and it does. That will also take some getting used to, but the goals of safer pedestrians and better traffic flow in the summer are worth the trade-off.

And here come the other kind of lights, always a welcome sight, the holiday kind. Wiscasset lights its Christmas tree in a musical ceremony at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7 on the common, according to Wiscasset Parks and Recreation. In a year of change, the things that stay the same are a touchstone.

Other lights and displays from the town, businesses and homes will hopefully make this as bright a holiday season as ever in Wiscasset. A big showing of holiday spirit could make an unofficial version of Wiscasset Lights, like Boothbay Lights, for Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens’ Garden Aglow-goers who pass through Wiscasset and sometimes spend money in it. We welcome them all.

As pretty and festive as lights in the busiest parts of a town are, so too are the displays we come upon on the dark stretches in any of our towns. The lights surprise us in our travels, and then we look forward to them once we have seen them there a number of nights. Someone is sharing their joy. It’s a unifying sentiment for strangers and friends in the dark of night.

Week’s positive parting thought: Let the naysayers do their thing, Patriots. We’re with you!