Synchronized

This time of year, we usually take the kids to the drive-through Christmas lights display that the city mounts on an outlying soccer field complex.  But after flooding at that location last year, the lights were slated to be moved to the new fairgrounds for this Christmas season.  And recently it was announced that the infrastructure wasn't yet in place at their new home to host the display.

So instead, we drove to a local neighborhood where a cul-de-sac's worth of homes has collaborated to put on a computerized light show synced to music on a low-power radio station.  You can read all about it here.  The kids were thrilled and amazed.  Cady Gray got to see a frenetic display timed to the Chipmunks' Christmas song (a number that sends her into full-throated laughter, a delight to hear).  And we stuck around to see a Mannheim Steamroller type number that really showed off the capabilities of the programming.

I've written before about how much I love the lights of this season -- their warm welcome, their brave show against the cold and dark, their expression of hope.  It's even more special when those lights are so clearly the gift of dedicated people to their neighbors.  Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to decorate for the season, filling the gap for our family's lights-visiting tradition.