More Tradition

"I thought maybe we could make ginger bread houses, and eat cookie dough, 

and go ice skating, and maybe even hold hands."

~Buddy, the movie Elf

My children still enjoy decorating Gingerbread houses.  Mostly, they still enjoy eating candy, but nevertheless, we do it every year.  Generally our Gingerbread house day follows the last day of school before the Christmas holiday.  

Lights

The holiday light show continues in Dallas. Every day it seems like there are more and more lights at which to gaze and be amazed. 


I have to say, this ranks right up there as one of my favorite aspects of the holidays.  As promised, here are a few photos from some of the more audacious displays.  


These 3 photos were all taken at the same home.  Trust me when I say the photos hardly do the scene justice.  There are gigantic, mechanical toys and music as well.  It is spectacular. Whoever said, "I've paid to see things not as good as this", was probably taking about this home's Christmas light show. Not surprisingly, this is the same home with the blinking eyeballs at Halloween.  They must love holidays even more than me.  

Comparatively, this home, which is just around the corner from the one above, is understated.  But isn't it lovely?

This full-sized nativity sits in the front yard of home not far away.  I have it on good authority that the Baby Jesus keeps getting kidnapped (perhaps "borrowed" is a better word, because he does eventually return).  Fortunately, he was present for our photo taking session.  

The Nativity sits in a portion (on the left) of this yard, which is also beautiful but understated.

Though you can't see it well, that's a life-size Santa in the window of
above the front door - he moves from
side to side and waves as you drive by.  Adorable.  

Even the city gets in on the action.  The 100-year-old pecan tree (it's at least 60 feet tall) which sits in the middle of a busy thoroughfare is decorated annually and it's lighting is a special ceremony.

Another reason to love crepe Myrtles, which are everywhere in Texas.  This is a random side street on our way home.  See also the cute house just down the street.  

Lest you think all the residents of Dallas have their paychecks direct deposited into the power company's bank account, rest assured, there are plenty (most, in fact) of houses with sweet, subtle light displays and even a few with Christmas inflatables (I saw my first Nativity inflatable the other day, wish I'd thought to take a picture of it). But trust me when I say, almost everyone here has some special decorations - making Christmas all the more magical.  

The Nativity

“Hey, unto you a child is born!”

- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever*

Sweet memories of my children re-enacting The Nativity

Since he was just 7 days old, I guess it's not surprising his sister enlisted him for the starring role.  

She was 6 and he was 3 and she  "demoted" him to playing the role of  Joseph.  

*If you haven't read this adorable book aloud to your children, you should. In fact, everyone should read it.  

Up On the Rooftop

No doubt, every family has a few strange holiday traditions. Chief among ours, is the ritual which follows our return from the annual tree buying excursion: we sit the children, plus the occasional toy or even a real dog or two on the roof of the car, and snap a photo. I'm not certain how this got to be a tradition, but without fail, we always pause long enough to engage in this little ceremony. Don't believe me? Here's the proof (from most years):