Christmas Lights

My husband decided at the beginning of the Christmas Season this year that he wanted to try to visit as many of Portland's special Christmas light displays as possible. We didn't make it to any of them last year--we didn't even take our planned "unofficial" tour of the lights in the surrounding neighborhoods.

We've done better this year. :) On Sunday night we went to visit Dan's grandma, who lives on a houseboat on the Willamette River. Every year the Christmas Boats sail right past her front porch. It was fun to see the decorations people put on their boats. Some boats were small (like the tiny motorboat that bore a lighted frame in the shape of a church) and others were larger (like the 50-foot yacht with several decks). Each had lights in shapes of some Christmas symbol. We clapped as a boat bearing Mary, Joseph, a star and a manger went by. A boat that had been decorated with bright red lights to look like a fire truck called "Merry Christmas!" from a loudspeaker. One boat had Santa fishing off the back end and another had Santa skiing down a "hill" which was made of light strands running from the upper deck down to the bow. Of course we also saw Christmas trees, reindeer, presents, snowflakes, etc. All in all there were probably at least 40 or 50 boats in the "parade."

Last night saw us traipsing all over north Portland in the pouring (and I do mean pouring) rain and wind. Thankfully, one of the light displays was a drive-through deal so we got to stay in the warm car. :) The other light display required walking from the car to the house and then around the "garden" area before going inside.

The torrential downpour aside, we had a wonderful time. I even told Dan I was happy that it rained, because it was fun to huddle under our umbrella with him and hop over puddles together. :) The first light display we went to was an old Victorian mansion, grounds and house resplendent in more than "2.5 million lights." I'd have guessed there were more lights than that just by looking at it. It was truly amazing to drive up and see this house looking like a Christmas cookie completely coated in white frosting. Sheets of lights had been laid out on the grassy areas so the ground was glittering all around the quaint little paved walkways. Each tree had lights so closely wound around it, from a distance they almost looked like solid lights themselves. Not a single surface of the exterior of the house was un-decorated. Every shrub, every patch of grass, the inside and outside of the large gazebo on the back lawn. . . I have never seen so many Christmas lights at one time before. We admired them for awhile and then took the tour of the interior of the house, which was completely decorated in adorable victorian-era furniture and pictures.

After the mansion we went to the Portland International Raceway, where every year they set up dozens of large Christmas light displays on and around the track. It certainly doesn't look like a race track when they are finished with it. We passed flying swans, drove through a gigantic Christmas wreath and underneath a boy shooting a basketball (over our car) into a hoop on the other side of the track. My favorite series of lights was the 12 Days of Christmas. Dan and I started singing the 12 Days of Christmas song at the sight of the glittering "Partridge in a Pear Tree" and sang each new verse as we passed the matching light display. We had to go faster and faster as we neared the end, because there were more verses to fit into the time between each display! Needless to say, we finished the song very out of breath, but laughing. :)

Of course, this morning I am doing penance for these excursions because we didn't get home until about 9:30 and then I still had to make 8 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange I signed up for. . . I'm crazy, I know! I ended up making only the batter and saving the actual baking for tonight, when hopefully I'll be slightly more awake. However, at the moment I am very sleepy. ;)