Best Yet

Friday's advent activity was to drive around to look at Christmas lights. This seems so simple that it couldn't be so great, but it WAS! The kids got into their pajamas, we turned on a Van Morrison CD (perfect light-viewing music), and we drove around to look at lights. Pasadena and surrounds have some pretty great spots to look at lights. But even on the way to said spots, there was so much for the kids to enjoy. They rated which homes were their favorites and we heard, "Oh! Awesome!" over and over again. When we arrived at Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena, it was just as magical as I remembered it as a child. People turn off their car lights to drive slowly down the street and enjoy the splendor of all the colored lights on the tall trees. Even the kids were speechless, except for a few, "Whooooooaaaas." Majestic. And then we went over to the Hastings Ranch area, which is just the opposite -- tacky and gaudy and everything little kids love. They ooohed and aaahed over snowpeople and Mickey Mouse and penguins and all sorts of "holiday" animals. We ended the night with more tall trees on St. Albans in San Marino. They, too, were beautiful. On the way back home, Annalise fell asleep, Juliette woke up (and didn't fall back asleep until 11:00) and Zachary complained that we weren't getting home fast enough. But for almost two hours, we delighted together, as a family, in the magic of the season.