December 06, 2011

My Favorite Tradition

When I was younger, every Christmas Eve after church we would pile in the car and drive around looking at Christmas lights. I love seeing lights, especially when people go all out. In recent years, I've expanded this tradition with my daughters. Instead of only looking at lights on Christmas Eve, we try to go out every Saturday night in December.
We made our first trek this year over the weekend. It was fun to see what people do. There's one nearby neighborhood that has a lighting contest. On one block there are two houses where the owners must be in a fierce competition. They have their houses lit beyond all imagination... front and back yards! One of the houses even has a life-size Santa on the porch. My daughters and I joked about what it must be like for the surrounding neighbors to have those lights blazing in their bedrooms every night.
Still, not as many homes are decorated this year. I don't know if people are trying to save money or just didn't get around to it this year. We had a huge cold snap over the weekend, so maybe people are waiting for a warm up. (Hubby usually puts ours up just before Thanksgiving when it's in the 60s, but we don't turn them on until the day after Thanksgiving). One block away from us is a house that usually has lights galore and music. This year they don't have the music playing... yet. We're hoping by next weekend the sound system will be turned on!
Some day my daughters will be too old (meaning "too cool") to spend every Saturday night looking at Christmas lights with me. For now, though, I'm happy to hear all the "oohs" and "ahhhs" from the back seat! Most of these houses have more lights than Hubby would ever agree to spend time putting up, but it's still fun to get ideas for next year.

5 comments:

SarahMarie said...

Our kids have had the best time this year driving around looking at lights. Like you, we try to go once a week.

MaryAnne said...

Oh, we need to do this! Thanks for the reminder!!!

Triple U said...

Haha - this post made me laugh. As a former neighbor of one of those crazy light people, let me tell you it's not the light that is bothersome - it's all the cars driving by. The traffic was insane. The light display my next door neighbors had was so interactive that people liked to get out and look at it up close (they even had a wishing well where people could throw money in to help pay the electricity). This meant cars parked EVERYWHERE. When I was 16, I came home from work and someone was blocking our driveway. They were parked very close to one of our cars that was on the street, so I pulled up so close to their car that they couldn't leave. I got into a huge screaming match with them while my parents watched from the front window. That neighbor forever ruined Christmas lights for me. Sorry to be such a scrooge. :-( Maybe I'll like it more as the girls get older - hopefully their joy will reinstate my joy.

Renae said...

Sounds like great holiday fun!

Heather said...

What a wonderful tradition. Your girls will have so many fond memories of your Christmas light tours. We have an area nearby that we always go to. There are mansions up and down the block that are completely covered in lights! It's pretty magical to see.

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