Anyways so we started at the Hess house. As I drank hot chocolate and ooo-ed and ahhh-ed, Kyle climbed up the ladder and did all the work. That's what big strong husband men are for, hanging sparkly Christmas lights on manly ladders, right? Anyways, a few strands of lights and a few roof clips later...
And then changing the camera settings just a bit...
It's simple, it's glowing, and we only have one outlet on the outside of the house (maybe we have more in the back yard...) but that's why you may see the random string of lights running down the front wall right in the center. Only one outlet for lights #firstworldproblems.
My favorite is when the lights are on and the Christmas tree is all lit up in the window. I love the Christmas trees you can see through people's windows. It's like the only appropriate time of the year to stare into other people's windows...right?
But then we got to dreaming... well, Kyle got to dreaming. What if we could wrap the entire pecan tree in lights? What if we could hang lights in the holly trees? We've been told that the previous owner lit the holly trees every year, and we've found remnants of the lights in the trees that apparently got cut once while trimming the tree. It was kind of exciting to figure out if we could Griswold the house into Christmas craziness.
But then it was cold and we figured we could plan something big for next year.
...and then we went to Santa Land. If you're not from Real Small Town, East Texas, you may not know about Santa Land. But if you've ever driven on I-20 past Highway 69, then you've probably seen it. Every day I drive past Santa Land on the way to and from work. It's actually on our exit. But it's a drive-thru Christmas light display that's been around here for years. The lines on the service road are backed up miles on weekends and nights nearing Christmas. It's kind of crazy. Like one time I couldn't exit the interstate because it was so blocked. These people are serious about their Santa Land.
Don't be fooled though, I don't hate Santa Land. I'm actually enamored by it. I watch the glitter lights twinkle and dance around the 100 yard tunnel of Christmas trees and I've always wondered what it would be like to drive-thru Santa Land.
This year. We WENT! We took our friends Candace and Jody and forced them to drink hot chocolate and take pictures in really warm hats...
I could tell you all about the magic or I could just show you...
It was a good time. I was amazed at the number of the lights weaving in and out of trees, wondering how long it takes to get those up every year or if they even take them down or how they don't break if they're left up... Kyle was busy counting the cars and calculating the money Santa Land was making per car/per hour/per night/per Christmas season. He likes the idea of starting a business, and since he LOVES Christmas, he was locked in on the Santa Land business. I think he was calculating until we fell asleep that night...
or until he started taking pictures of the lights and thinking about how we could put up tons of lights in our yard...
Next year we could be Santa Land Part II. Look out!
Merry Christmas, may your days be merry and BRIGHT! It's not too late, get out there and light the house!
And did I mention I have not one but TWO Christmas parties tonight, and another on Sunday! I think the count after that will be five (not too shabby) at least until the next party on Wednesday...
Nice job on the house and Christmas tree! JH
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