Favorite Holiday Pastimes

One of my favorite Christmas memories is the time spent driving around looking for Christmas lights. Mom and Pop used to pile us all into the car one night during the Christmas holidays and we would drive around looking for stellar Christmas decorations. I am not sure why this was so exciting to me as a kid, but I still get a kick out of checking out a good light display. I suppose the peak of light hunting in NOLA was the start of Christmas in the Oaks, which later became Celebration in the Oaks, and was, initially, just a driving tour. After the chaos of our trip to Celebration in the Oaks on Saturday night I sort of wish that it was still a driving tour.

Here is me with the bug, getting ready for Celebration in the Oaks:


We got to City Park around 6:30 and the line to get into the park was not too bad. Walking around inside of the park was tolerable too. There was a decent crowd, but not enough of one to seriously complicate things. The trouble started in the are where all of the rides are...thirty minutes in the ticket line, thirty minutes waiting for most rides and about twenty minutes at the concession stand. All of the waiting around sort of took the fun out of it. In fact, I am not sure if Christian will ever go back to Celebration in the Oaks. I think he was ready to defenestrate when we encountered thirty minutes of bumper to bumper traffic on our way out of the park. And yet, somehow, I think it was all worth it because La Luz had a blast.

Christian and La Luz at Celebration in the Oaks, prior to Christian's meltdown:



Over the weekend we also visited another NOLA Christmas lights tradition - Al Copeland's house. I am sure the neighbors hate it but La Luz enjoyed every minute of it. Free popcorn and cotton candy for the kids, Rudolph playing on the facade of the house and a gigantic creche, what more can a kid ask for?

Checking out Copeland's lights:


Next weekend - Fulton Street - and I think that will take care of the Christmaslights festivities.