Archive for December, 2005

At least once during the holiday season, Mel and I throw the top down on the Miata and drive through various neighborhoods to look at lights. We have our favorite places, such as the cul-de-sac in Southwest Austin where every house is lit and the median is packed with lights, cut-outs, and blow-up displays. One of the houses in that area even has a train display every year.

We usually try a couple of neighborhoods outside our usual stomping grounds, with varying degrees of success. This year, the results were pretty puny. Our own South Austin neighborhood consistently provides the best displays, from the tree trimmer’s house where every tree has at least one string of lights, even in the back yard of his corner lot (the photo is pretty crappy, but it will give you an idea of the effort):

to the house of the elderly couple that keeps adding new pieces every year. One photo doesn’t begin to show everything in that yard or the massive Christmas village in the garage windows:

But the display that brought the biggest smile was illuminated only by headlights:

N(o) ULE? I guess Santa isn’t going down that street this year. We didn’t either.