Name that song! I think I have finally found my Christmas spirit this year and I am ready for the festivities to begin including non-stop Christmas music. Usually I have started my shopping and thought about my Christmas decorations well before Thanksgiving, but this year I am a little behind. Last night we went with a group of friends to dinner on the Country Club Plaza and a limo ride to look at the Christmas lights. With the temperatures plunging into the 20’s and all the beautiful light displays I could not but help to get into the Christmas mindset.
We topped off our night with a drive through Christmas in the Park which is an antimated Christmas light display only about a mile from our house. The Jackson County Parks department transforms a camping ground next to Longview Lake into a spectacular drive-thru attraction featuring 175 displays and 300,000 lights. The display is free but donations are accepted for local charities.
These pictures do not capture how amazing these displays are, but to get some perspective, the teddy bear above soars 20 feet high.
Each year new displays are added and this year a lighted birthday cake celebrates 26 years of this event. We have attended each one of those years and watched the display grow larger and larger.
The skates below were just added a couple of years ago but have become my personal favorite.
A few corporate sponsors help defer the cost of powering these displays from Thanksgiving night through New Year’s Eve.
The following sponsor is a favorite of many since they provide a handful of candies when you donate to charity at the end of display
It would not be Christmas at our house without driving through Christmas in the Park. If you live in the area I highly recommend a visit. Here is a tip….DO NOT GO ON THE WEEKEND unless you enjoy sitting in your car for a couple of hours winding your way on dark roads just to get to the entrance. We have found the best time to go is on a weeknight, the later the better. We drove through at 9:00 pm last night and there was very little traffic. This display is open from 5:30 until 10 pm, Sunday thru Thursday. On Friday and Saturday it is open until 11 pm.
By the way, do you know what song includes the title phrase of this post?
Silver Bells! Wish I were there. Looks like fun!
Silver bells
Sent from Julie’s iPhone
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You got it!!
OK Theresa Woman of Wonders: how did you get the night photos of the lights? Auto setting on your camera or particular aperture/shutter speed setting. Love your posts!
Hi Ann, I use manual setting on my camera about 95% of the time but I am still learning. For these night shots I had the ISO set to 2000, F/5 and 1/60 sec. If I were printing these I probably could not get away with the ISO at 2000, but for on-line posting it seems to be fine. I have a canon 7D camera which is such a great camera it helps make up for my lack of skill!