Christmas Lights

Since over half of the fun of a big trip or fun event is the anticipation of it, I don't plan too many surprises for the children.  There are certainly perfect times for surprises, like the big surprise birthday bash for my mother's 70th birthday, but we haven't overdone surprises because we love watching the children's anticipation grow over the weeks and months before the big event.  However, they were so excited about our trip to Disney World that they could hardly sleep the last few days before we left, so maybe we should have surprised them a little.  Now I wish Christmas wasn't on a set date on the calendar so we could surprise them instead and thereby avoid the crazy amount of hyperactivity that has been bouncing around our home this past week.

I did plan a few small surprises for the kids this week.  The horseback riding surprise went over really well with our daughter.  While I can't remember ever watching the entire movie, The Polar Express, I thought it would be fun to also surprise the kids with a little Polar Express style journey to view Christmas lights.

I found some "Christmas Express" tickets online which I printed.  We were going to put the tickets under their pillows, but my husband suggested placing them inside the kids' advent drawer.  (Maybe he just wanted the candy in those drawers, so he replaced the candy with tickets.)  The kids did not understand what the tickets meant until they heard a "choo-choo" sound, and my husband transformed himself into a train conductor and stood by the door ready to punch their tickets.  I was dressed in yoga pants and workout top while the others were wearing pajamas.  We assumed we would be in our vehicle the entire time. Little did we know that the light display I had chosen for us to view not far from our house would be much too large and the traffic too congested to view from a car.  Friends tell us we live in the boonies (some call it "Egypt"), but these country people from the boonies sure know how to put on a light display.  Next year, these neighbors are moving the light show downtown since the display has outgrown their neighborhood.

The show began with a patriotic tribute to our armed forces.

Over 250,000 lights were included in this display, and set up took seven weeks.  All of the music and light scenes were Christ centered, and the emcee repeatedly reminded viewers that Jesus is the reason for this season. The music blared from outdoor speakers and was broadcast over the radio for those watching from their cars.  A fire pit kept people warm, and Santa's sleigh made a great photo spot.  The kids were embarrassed at first to be outside in their pajamas, but once the lights and music began, they forgot all about being embarrassed. During the upbeat songs, they enjoyed jamming and dancing with their mama.

My husband video taped parts of two songs as a sample.  We stayed for at least 5 different songs and wanted to stay longer, but the kids desperately needed a potty break.  Next year we will be better prepared.