Trail of Lights, Part 2: Storytime

Besides traveling through magical, colorful, glowing tunnels  at Austin's Trail of Lights, 

you also journey through many beloved children's stories and other icons of childhood.

The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another his mother called him "WILD THING!" and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!" 

so he was sent to bed without eating anything. 

(Grocery store chain HEB passes out free books to children on the Trail. Awesome!)

"Your fight is with me, you miserable mouse! Not a defenseless old soldier!"

(This nutcracker is a little scary, isn't it? Especially in person - he was about 20 feet tall!)

I'll be honest, I'm not sure what story this is from. 

But look at its face! 

I love this dinosaur/sea serpent/dragon!

(Anyone know?)

I spent hours playing Candyland when I was little. 

Rumor has it I knew how to stack the cards when I was 3 years old so I could win. 

I was a genius!

"When someone says How-do-you-do, just say you didn't." ~ Eeyore

(Eeyore is my favorite. But don't tell Pooh or Piglet or Tigger.)

Of course, Santa was there, taking last minute requests.

Food trailers! Hot chocolate, turkey legs, Chinese food... even crepes!

Merry Christmas again! 

My kids will be here tomorrow and I might actually get my tree decorated. 

Even if I don't, it will be a wonderful weekend and the joy of Christmas is in my heart.

 I hope it is in yours. 

Wishing you tons of Christmas blessings!

Following a Trail of Lights

Almost every year since 1965

a section of Austin has come alive with

Christmas magic

in the form of

light.

In all the years I've lived here,

I had never seen the Trail of Lights with my own eyes

until Monday night

and then I wondered... 

why did I wait so long?

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.  

~Aaron Rose

Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby. ~Ruth E. Renkel

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.  

~Anthony J. D'Angelo

No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.  

~Terry Pratchett

  

I will love the light for it shows me the way.  

Yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.  

~Og Mandino

See the moon hiding in the star?

Your path is illuminated by the light

Yet darkness lets the stars shine bright. 

~J.L.W. Brooks

In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.  

~Blaise Pascal 

We all walk in the dark and each of us must learn to turn on his or her own light.  

~Earl Nightingale

You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in.  

~Arlo Guthrie

In the beginning there was nothing.  God said, "Let there be light!"  And there was light.  There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.  

~Ellen DeGeneres

The lights forming the tree below are strung from one of the original Moonlight Towers, constructed in 1894 after a Jack-the-Ripper type murderer terrorized the city. 
Actually, some think it really was Jack the Ripper who committed the crimes and then fled to London.

Ahem. 
Anyway... back to Christmas joy...

Moonlight is sculpture.  

~Nathaniel Hawthorne

(See the moon hiding in the tree now?)

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas, full of light and love! 

I'm grateful for each and every one of you!