Christmas Lights

I am absolutely fascinated by the amount of work and preparation it takes to leave this house with children in tow. That's why I think I make such a big deal when we actually make it to events and outings that we've actually chosen to embark upon.

This evening MyTeam Triumph was participating in another 5K fun run through Winterhaven. Winterhaven is a huge neighborhood (I'll call it a "village" because that sounds more festive). It's a huge village that puts on a showing of Christmas lights every year and it's been happening for years now. I don't know how long but ever since my one year as a Brownie. So that will tell you it's been at least twenty-five years. :-). *I later googled Winterhaven and discovered it was their 62nd year doing the Christmas lights festival. So I was off a tad.

Now remember that whole "if there is a race, we're going to run it" battle cry I made in the last post. Well when I said run, I meant walk. At least in this instance. We all got sick. And I mean big time sick. Like the Great Sickness of 2011 - sick. I'm probably exaggerating, slightly, but we're still trying to shake it off - all of us. Oh, except for Gabe. Who might have been the last to catch The Great Sickness. So he opted out of our Winterhaven excursion.

Speaking of opting out, because of our being sick, we opted out of the race, but instead, decided to go cheer on some of the MyTeam Triumph crew.

Go Sarah! Go Mason! - I was actually screaming this.

Going back to my fascination with going places, I'm always so fascinated that we actually get out of the house. It's so easy to choose not to go when faced with the whole getting ready of it all. But once we get passed that, out the door, and take off down the road, I'm giddy. I'm actually thinking - I can't believe we're doing this! We're actually going to Winterhaven! I'm so excited! As if we're taking a trip to the moon.

Anyway, we made it. We cheered. But then got lost on the way to the finish line, so we couldn't see the line crossing, but we took some pretty pictures of light displays on our walk through the village.

Yes, I'm going to share pictures of lights. Which are far more exciting in person, any day of the week. So even though we took over 100 pictures tonight, I'm sharing just a few of my faves.

Christian taking a gander at all the lights. Why, yes, that is a Hanukkah bear holding a dreidel in the background. The village welcomes everybody.

Mazeltoff.

There were beautiful big Christmas light displays...

...and amazingly simple displays.

"Dream Big."

And for me, Charlie Brown is pretty much synonymous with Christmas.

P.S. Christian has always reminded us of Charlie Brown.

See?

Look, it's Lola and Christian!

Ooohhh, Ahhhh!

Before we left, we stopped at The Wishing Tree.

What's a Wishing Tree, you ask? Well, anyone can write a wish down on a "link" of paper and attach it to other papers chains full of wishes.

So, of course, I did!

I made two wishes, but I'm not going to tell you what they are!

Look at all those wishes! By the end of the Christmas season, that tree will be overflowing.

 It was a great evening and I was grateful we made it out. Not only have we endured The Great Sickness, but Christian has also been having a rough time in the evening. We weren't sure we'd even be able to leave the house at that time of day. We braved it anyway and he did great! He really likes moving. If we stopped to gaze or take pictures for too long he gave us a little grunt that we'd better get it together and move along. Of course, Christmas lights on a dark night are a wonderful sensory exercise. Always looking for therapeutic value in everything!

Seriously, though, it was a good night and the kids enjoyed themselves. It was the kind of night we think to ourselves - Why don't we do this more often? We got out of the house. We took off down the street. We gazed at the lights and then watched our kids gaze at the lights. It was fascinating.