Saturday, December 18, 2010

Christmas lights tour

When I was young, I never dreamed that I would have Christmas lights in my own yard, let alone look forward to driving around looking for lights. Boy, what a little age will do for you.


You must be able to see this house from space. We forgot the exact street this display is on, so we just searched for the glow in the sky and aimed for it. The house has two sets of trains.



The Christmas house comes with elves. They meet and greet and take you to see...
That's right, Santa hangs out in a Strongsville Ohio neighborhood. Boy was I excited to visit with him. I haven't seen him since I was a little kid, or was it last year when we did the tour? Well, Ho! Ho! Ho! anyway.
Every time we see parents with young kids doing round robin picture taking, we volunteer to take a family pic. It only takes a second and puts a smile on peoples faces. That's how we got our picture taken.
We headed to what I call "the vacant lot" at the intersection of the two busiest roads in town. When we first moved to Strongsville, I saw this big vacant lot with some kind of faux New England clock tower on it. I wandered why there wasn't a gas station on the corner. The upholders of town snootiness and morals told me that it was "the commons." Well OK then. Still looks like a vacant lot to me. I would have added faux ruins of a fort or something to the faux clocktower for instant history.
Pat and I headed to downtown Cleveland and public square. The city of Cleveland puts on a marvoulous Christmas display. Terminal Tower is lit up in green and red and the colors change. I never noticed it till Pat pointed it out when we were looking at pictures.
I would have put lights on it.





Old Stone Church

This is Cleveland's founder, Moses Cleveland. He spent one night here. After claiming the area for land speculators in Connecticut, he left, not unlike other recent personages.

Tom Johnson was one of the greatest figures of the Progressive era at the turn of the last century. He made his money in steel and street cars and became Cleveland's greatest mayor. You know I always try to sneak in a history lesson.

8 comments:

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

I've never been to Cleveland. It surely looks beautiful before Christmas!And now I know how this city got its name! Thank you Jim! I like your and Pat's picture under the arbor. It misses a mistletoe!

Is the Wiz said...

Thanks Jim, for knocking some of the cynicism out of me. That was fun. May you, Pat and all your family and friends have a lovely Christmas X

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Thank you Jim for a lovely tour of Christmas lights in your area. I loved the picture of you and Santa. Last night DH and I watched for the first time ever, Miracle on 34th St. (1994 version). It was a delightful movie.

Love the picture of you and Pat. It looks cold. The other night DH suggested after dinner that we take a walk around the block to see the lights. We hadn't done that in a couple of years and it was a real treat. It was COLD too so that made it extra nice, but it sure felt good to get back inside our cozy cottage. Our walk took about 45 minutes.

May you both have a wonderful Christmas and a great new year. Thank you for visiting my blog and your kind comments. Thank you for my blog picks on Blotanical too.

FlowerLady

Lona said...

WoW! What a wonderful tour of Strongsville all lit up. It must take them a long time to get that house all trimmed up. The square is just beautiful. I love all the blue lights, but then I would since I love all things blue.LOL! Thanks for sharing such pretty lights.
Have a Wonderful Christmas too my friends!

Roslyn said...

Cleveland does put on a lovely light show for Christmas. Looks like you and Pat had great fun. We're going out tonight with our grandchildren to check out the lights in our neighbourhood.

Alistair said...

Great fun Jim,love your pictures, was that Santa on the left?

Marguerite said...

oh my goodness those are some beautiful lights. I would have been in awe as a child. I was one of those that loved driving around looking at lights. okay I admit, I still like driving around looking at lights..

Victoria said...

Wow..what a beautiful and magnificent post..just fabulous..and inspiring!
Wishing you much magic this holiday season, and bright sparkles for the new year!
Kiki~