The Lights of Christmas

Last night I took a small group to The Lights of Christmas in Stanwood, an hour north of my home.  We were there for over 4 hours and still didn't see and do everything!  There are over a million lights on 15 walkable acres, plus live entertainment, activities for children, food, etc.

Here is our group.

"Peace On Earth"

In this lake scene (above and below), the lights changed to depict the cycle of the setting sun, 

and then the sunset..

This tree alone must have had several thousand lights!

Murtaja in front of the toy train depot.  (He took over half of the pictures I've posted.  He has an excellent camera and a good eye for composition.)

Kettle Korn for Sukinah and her daddy, Hussein.

DJ and Sue riding the Polor Express.

Dreauna and DJ in the candy cane tunnel.

Petting a little llama.

Listening to a local concert band perform.

Murtaja with acres of lights behind him.

I call this the gumball tree.

Fat penguins.

Not one bare branch on this tree!

Snow covered mountains and foothils made entirely of lights.

A model of a water wheel.

The Nativity

More mountains.

Acres and acres of lights.

This shows how the mountain lights are hung on the trees.

"Go in Peace, and the God of Peace go with you."

And this was just a fraction of the pictures we took!  As you can imagine, it is a hugely popular event --the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.  An average of  50,000 people come to the 20-day event each year.  Over 800 volunteers donate more than 15,000 hours starting in September to get this event ready each year.  They also volunteer during and long after it is over taking down all those lights and carefully packing everything away for another year.  What a work of love!  

Still marveling over The Lights of Christmas,

Love, Homestay Mama