SoCal Trip - 5 - Balboa Island

An interesting little island. Many of the homes decorate for Christmas and for four nights during Christmas time they host a boat parade as well.

Some go all out!

 Scott says this high wire Santa is quite the attraction at night.

Beary Christmas.

 Windows loaded with Christmas bears.

 The little sign under the collector sign states, 'Hobby gone awry.'

This lady was adding some finishing touches to her display.

 Penguins!

A little simpler, but still quite a bit.

Their dock was decorated in similar style.

Snowmen.

Another nice nativity scene.

 This window picture shows a few boats and the mainland (Newport).  Not Christmassy, just kind of cool, although you can see a bit of their inside decor in the darker reflection.

SoCal Trip - 1

Thanks to Scott Ravenhorst, or Mr. Foam, I was able to take a quick plane trip to Southern California, aka SoCal. First night we checked out some lights in the neighborhood.

This must have taken some time to put together.

 Close up.

 Another nativity also done very well.

 This trumpet-blowing angel is heralding the good news alongside the above nativity scene.

Never had seen a lighted horse and ducks before!

Christmas Lights

We made our annual trek over to a nearby street, Natal Circle, where they always do it up big.

It is always a big draw, but not nearly so busy just yet.

There's usually a Santa peaking in the window at this house.

Houses, trees and inflatables make for a full yard.

Some get very creative with accessories.

Some fill every space with lights.

Sometimes simple is very nice as well.

Very, very creative

And religious, of course!



Zoolights

Finally took time to visit the Zoolights as a family on New Year's Eve. Jake headed straight for the 'Dancing Trees' - so named because the lights 'dance' to a Christmas medley with a strong Manheim Steamroller base.

The lights vary from red to blue to green or all of them together with white as well. It is always a big draw for the Zoo.

But there were so many other nice lights:

This Red White & Blue trio

This 'candy-coated' tree

These canopied trees

This 'firecracker' tree

And this mesuite tree with the blue moon rising above it.

I like the trees being lit up so much more than the animal shaped outlines lit up.  There were some new ones of those, too, but for the first time in a number of years they seemed to have gone back to lighting up more trees.

We Hope You're on Track...

For the Best Christmas EVER!

I waited until today to post our Christmas card this year. Hopefully, it has already arrived in your mailbox!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

A 'Grown Up' Christmas Wish [List]

I know he's already listed in my Great Blogs off to the side, but my buddy Kev comes up with some incredible Christmas wish lists every year. Too good to pass up. Click on the links and get ready to smile. Probably even more funny than the list itself are his comments as to why they make such great gift ideas.

Christmas Lights

Many houses have some spectacular displays. These are a few nearby houses.

A nearby business always does it up for Christmas. I guess this guy owns a good number of business corners in Mesa & Chandler.

They'll have Santa there starting this Friday thru Tuesday. I'm not sure if Jake is excited to see Santa or just to get a candy cane, but he really wants to see him there this year.

Christmas Ornament

Remeber the Devil's Claw from a few weeks back? I had a bunch and didn't know what to do with them. Then I remembered I could build a dream catcher.
After a few practice catchers I finally figured it out. I thought the cross was a nice touch - sort of symbolizing Christ's victory over the Devil. The 'claws' are tied up and rendered powerless just as Christ will bind the devil and cast him into the pit when He returns.