Christmas Lights

Growing up, we always went on a drive around town to look at all the Christmas lights. We usually did it on Christmas Eve. I've tried to implement this as a family tradition with my family, but Aaron has never been very interested. So instead, I usually just drive around in the evenings with the kids after I pick everyone up from daycare. That's fun, too. We really enjoy it.

But last week, I came across an article in the Denver Post that listed some great houses in the area to check out for really spectacular Christmas Light displays. (If you're in Denver and want to check it out, here's a link to the list online.) I convinced Aaron to map out a route to go see some of the houses in our area (or kind of close to our area, anyway). We fed the kids and headed out around 5:30, thinking 2 hours should be plenty, and would put us home for bedtime and in time to watch a show Aaron and I really wanted to see. As we started, Aaron informed us all that the schedule allowed no time for stopping and looking at the houses, so we all had to be prepared to look quickly as he drove by. =D Luckily, he didn't hold us to that!

We saw great light displays! I can't believe the amount of time and effort it must have taken to set up some of these displays.

1188 Clubhouse Dr., Broomfield, Colorado, 80020

Some of our favorites were the ones that had music playing with the lights blinking on and off synchronized to the music. So much fun to watch! I really could have sat and watched that for a long time, it was so cool.

6330 W. 110th Place, Westminster, CO, 80020

I think everyone's favorite was the Christmas Train house. This place had all kinds of regular and motorized decorations. Snowmen, gingerbread houses, gingerbread men, a moving ferris wheel filled with snowmen and elves, a ski lift taking various characters up onto the roof to ski, so much! But the highlight, was the train. This is a real train! On tracks! Driving around the yard! It's about 5 feet tall, and Santa is driving it. When it comes to the sidewalk (that people would have to cross to get to the front door) there is actually a train gate, complete with flashing lights and arm that lowers to block the sidewalk until after the train has gone by. Preston loved that! We were there for quite a while walking around to see all the decorations and watching the train come around again and again. It was definitely a hit!

7645 Hooker St., Westminster, CO

One of my favorite things overall was how nice all the people were. A couple of different times random people (also out looking at the lights) came up to us and suggested other houses we should go see. Everyone just wanted to share the joy of the season and the fun of looking at these over-the-top decorations.

We ended up visiting 20 different houses! We spent about 4 hours at it - we missed bedtime, we missed our TV show, but I'm so glad we did it. It was tons of fun for me and the kids... and I think Aaron enjoyed it at least a little bit. ;) I might just talk him into seeing some more houses on the list on Christmas Eve!