In Living Color December Challenge
Bright Lights
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
A family friend who works at the local marina strung all of these Christmas lights himself — all 1,600 feet. He showed us the photos he took on his phone, so, of course, we had to make a trip to the marina the following night so I could take my own photos.
One of our Christmas traditions is to gather into the car on Christmas Eve and ride around looking at lights on houses. When we return we all open one present and save the rest for the next morning.
The past few years, we’ve visited a house that has over 90,000 lights. According to the family, they’ve been decorating for 20 years, starting when their son was 2 years old and with a lot less lights. It’s free to stroll through, take pictures, and enjoy the display, but they also take donations that go to families of children with special needs. Part of their fun facts that they have listed on a board is that 90% of the display is LED, which makes their holiday power bill cheaper than running the AC in August. And we know Texas in August is brutal.
The display reminds me of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It’s pretty amazing. I felt the holiday spirit just walking through and catching all the little details. One of my favorite things was this nutcracker.
The evening we were there, a camera crew was filming. The family was even featured on The Great Christmas Light Fight on a local channel back in 2021.
Would a Christmas display be complete without a dancing Santa? There’s a button between his feet that makes him dance. I didn’t notice the button at first and saw Santa dancing for other onlookers. It was so life-like, I thought it was real.
They had the most extraordinary Christmas village set up in a front window. So many lights and moving parts. It’s truly magical.
The light-up yard decorations feature everything from pigs to penguins to flamingos. A little treat and a break from the holiday shopping and rushing around. It does feel like time stands still while you’re enjoying the view.
Thank you to JoAnn Ryan and Allisonn Church for the December challenge. Happy holidays!