Last night we went to "Lights in the Heights" with our friends, Sara and Mohnie, and their two little girls, Shantih and Alexis. This event is touted as a sort of street parade in our neighborhood. It was quite an experience! The streets are closed to traffic, people decorate their homes with "major wattage," and there are various forms of entertainment along the way - sometimes at street intersections and sometimes on people's front porch or lawn. For example, in the photo above, a blue grass band is playing on someone's front lawn. Here, Jesse, Mohnie and Sara (with Alexis on Jesse's shoulders) watch some of the entertainment.
Here are Shantih and Alexis in front of my Christmas tree.
One of the entertainment corners was a drum circle and the kids could jump in and play.
Jesse and Alexis clap along with the bluegrass band while Sara looks on.
I could not get any good pictures of the lights. The most elaborate display was probably the lawn with a decorated boat parked in front, with Santa wakeboarding behind it in the trees. That lawn also included a decorated longboard, fully lit sunshine, and blue lighted waves. Pretty cool - I think it won the contest. In addition to the bluegrass band and drum circle, there were also jazz performances, Djs, and belly dancers. However, one of the major elements of the "parade" was the people watching. It seems to be quite a "big party" - it was very popular to see folks walking the street parade with a cooler on wheels so you could host a sort of roaming party. These coolers were also often decorated with lights and such. We saw one gal who had a whole mini bar set up in a wagon with mixers and cranberry juice, and a group of men with a kegerator on wheels. There were also tons of kids and families who decorated their strollers with lights and reindeer antlers and such.
We had a great time and look forward to going again next year. I guess this is one advantages of Houston weather - its easy to be outside in December without too much discomfort!
