there's this
*thing* in our city (in a neighborhood near ours) during the month of december that started out on just one wee little street and has turned into an amazing skyful of colored lights throughout an entire neighborhood. and now they've added
a 5K walk/run, with music, cookies, hot chocolate, and lots & lots of holiday cheer. (they collect lots of
dollars & food for the local food banks, too.) typically, we've driven the streets at some point leading up to christmas with the moonroof open and the boys half out of the car (progressively squished through the roof opening as the years have passed), but this year hubby and i decided to go over during the 5K and watch the elves, santas, reindeer, presents, and other festively-decorated people run (or walk) by. the entire neighborhood is closed to cars during the event, and there were (for sure)
thousands of people in the streets. it was
amazeballs!
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| what to my wondering (and blurry) eyes appears? |
it's hard to see, but there are literally thousands of people in this photo. they were blinking, jingling, mingling, and waiting to start the race!
there were music groups on several of the street corners (my favorite being a couple who were wearing lighted balls on their heads). just after the racers took off, this group broke into feliz navidad for the crowd.
apparently, they made an adjustment to the race/walk this year ~ they gave the runners a 20-minute head start. running in the dark is slightly hazardous (even - especially? - when wearing christmas lights wrapped around your body), and some of the fastest runners had (literally, i'm guessing) actually run into the slowest walkers at the back of the pack last year. so there were lots of walkers milling about after the runners took off.
see those wavy lines of light? those are people.
almost all of the houses along the race route have lights in their trees, on their roofs, in their yard, or
somewhere. it is glorious . . . and extremely hard to photograph when you have not read the camera manual on how to take pictures of bright lights in a dark night. i fiddled around & gave it my best shot (so to speak).
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| ~ again with the blurry ~ |
it was so much fun to see & hear the runners!
. . . jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way . . .
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| craftsman-style roof pendants |
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| tudor-style fancy pants |
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| what is black, white, & red all over? |
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| bungalow glow |
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| keystone |
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| & a black lab keeping watch by night |
i just couldn't get enough of the beautiful, glowing, colored lights!
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| the traditional ball is made from chicken wire |
here's the duo i liked who were wearing lighted balls on their heads doing a rendition of Santa Baby
~ & here we are at the corner where it all began ~
(this car drives around with lighted balls on its roof!)
the money raised by the race & the donated food
all go to our local food banks.
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
as we make our way against the tide of walkers
& back home
happy holiballs, y'all!
