Out to see the lights

One of the traditions of our family (even before kids) was to travel to a neighborhood in another city where people "over decorate" (as my sister would say) their homes for Christmas.  For blocks and blocks and blocks, at each house there are 20 times more lights than we put up, fake snow, and lots of moving decorations.

Since kids, we've always gone with a stroller.  But this year we decided to try it without a stroller, since Natalie and Konrad have been walking so well.  And they all did very well, although Natalie needed to be carried in the middle, then caught her second wind and was running ahead of us in the dark to get to the next house with lights (when we hit a spot with several homes that weren't decorated).  Natalie... running... dark... sometimes uneven sidewalk... other people coming toward us.  Not a great combination, but thankfully she didn't fall.

The kids all had cups with hot chocolate in them.  It was supposed to be a fairly warm night (50 degrees), but it was a little windy, so that cooled things off a bit, but everyone with hoods on their jackets (which was everyone except Tom) was warm enough.

It was so much fun to see the kids enjoy the beautiful lights.  It's old hat for Lukas (although of course he still loves going and especially the hot chocolate part of the tradition), but Natalie and Konrad seemed to discover it for the first time.  They were especially enamored with fake snow. 

We were disappointed that nothing at the house with the "tree with a million lights" was lit this year for the first time in many years that we can remember (see the video here to know what I'm talking about!).  Maybe the house was sold and the new owners didn't get the memo of what the rest of us expect to see every year!

Here's a short little video of Natalie talking about the lights.  I couldn't understand her last night, but as I see the video, I'm pretty sure she's saying, "I see a horse."