by Tanya Agler
I have a confession to make. I love spending time searching for the perfect Christmas present for my family members and friends. It gives me joy to think about their personalities
and what they mean to me and try to find something for each of them that will be useful but also enjoyable. However, I do not love wrapping presents because I’m rather bad at it. My
mom once worked at a department store during the holidays and could turn out beautiful packages with ribbon and bows. On the other hand, I inherited my rather haphazard present-wrapping ability from my dad, who would ask me to wrap my mother’s presents. One year, I turned a beautiful dress into a ball, and she had no idea what she was unwrapping until we all shared a good laugh over the surprise.
Nowadays, my skills haven’t improved that much and, in spite of this, I still do the majority of this holiday task for my family. I prefer to wrap presents by myself while blaring Christmas music. When my daughter, who is now engaged to be married, was in elementary school, I asked my husband to take her somewhere for a couple of hours so that I could perform this task without the prospect of her walking in while I was wrapping hers. Later that night, they came home raving about the beautiful Christmas lights they saw at a local community college. I had mixed feelings about this. While I was happy that they bonded over a shared love of Christmas lights, I did suffer from a bit of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) or, in this case, JOMO (Joy of Missing Out).
Then our (older) son came along, and I would tell everyone to have fun while they
went to Lights of Life. I’d wrap presents while my husband spent time with our son and
daughter. This worked for a couple of years until I had to see Lights of Life for myself. It was
a double win as I postponed my holiday wrapping session while getting to enjoy the gorgeous display for myself. Not only are there festive lights, but there is also a pedestrian area. A few years ago, this included some trailers with cute but cheesy displays of Santa’s workshop and the North Pole. Now, there are rides and vendors selling everything from marshmallows to necklaces (which was the basis for a scene in The Firefighter’s Christmas Promise), but you can still walk around and take in the light displays. My three favorite displays are the Max and Grinch lights, the Christmas trees, and Nessie the Loch Ness monster rising up in the campus lake. Over the years, our family expanded this event into an evening of holiday fun, and we go out to dinner followed by getting milkshakes (!) to savor in the car as we ride through the area.
While a fun evening, our family with the addition of our now teenage twins has now
visited this attraction every year. It has become a family tradition with the twins not only
looking forward to seeing Nessie (who’s everyone’s favorite) but also planning for weeks
ahead what flavor of milkshake they will order. As for the holiday wrapping? I try my best to
get it done while they’re in school, but inevitably it seems as though I come home from
Christmas Eve service and finish wrapping the last few presents.
This year, my husband and I proposed a change. We wanted to mix it up a little and visit a different holiday lights display. Cupcake (my youngest daughter) was aghast at the prospect. Her response: "If Mom can watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966 animated version) every year, I should be able to see the same lights display every year." She loves
seeing Nessie every year. It’s now a tradition. I can’t (or don’t want to) argue with her logic.
So, we’ll probably be driving to Lights of Life again this year. As for wrapping the presents?
Well, there’s always Christmas Eve following the candlelight service.
Have you ever visited a holiday lights display? If so, is it a car drive-thru display or
do you walk among the lights? One commenter will receive an e-copy of my 2023 holiday
release, Snowbound with the Rodeo Star.
Award-winning author, Tanya Agler lives in Georgia with her husband, four children, and two dogs (including Linus the Beagle). Moving often in her childhood, she connected
with stories with spunky heroines like Trixie Belden and Anne Shirley. Now she writes books that center around the themes of hope and redemption. Her tenth Harlequin Heartwarming,
The Triplets’ Holiday Miracle, will be released on Dec. 24, 2024. Be on the lookout for her free online read, Her Christmas Sweetheart, on the Harlequin website this month. She is a
member of Georgia Romance Writers, Novelists, Inc., and FHL Christian Writers. When she’s not writing, chauffeuring her children, or folding laundry, Tanya loves classic movies (preferably anything with Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart), waterfalls, and enjoying a cup of tea alongside a good book.
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A few years ago we began a weekly tradition of having dinner with our then pre-teen grandson. We were having a difficult time getting him excited about anything we did with him. One night I suggested we drive through a Christmas light display in a nearby town. It was a success and now we scout for new places to visit every holiday season. It is so nice to have something special we do together and I think he now actually looks forward to it! And he's now 15. We probably have one more good year before it's no longer cool. SIGH....
Since I was a kid, I've loved going on drives randomly looking at Christmas lights. For the last several years, our adult kids and us have gone to our state's biggest city for a massive lights display on the museum grounds. Spread over multiple acres, it's a fabulous sight and there's hot cocoa or cider and huge chocolate chip cookies. I can't wait to go this year. Your book sounds terrific, Tanya. Congrats!
In Oregon, there’s a small town about halfway between Portland and the coast named Roy. In the 90’s, there were two neighbors who competed each year with grandiose light displays, music, and often Santa handing out candy canes.
My mom heard about it, so one evening we packed up my girls and bundled them into their car seats and set off for Roy. We didn’t know where exactly it was, just headed toward Astoria.
Close to an hour in, we’d almost given up when we saw the sign, having us turn left across the freeway. We followed a meandering road encased in a low fog, joking we’d better not break down when we rounded a curve and the valley lit…
Visiting my grandparents included the drive thru lights display the Kiwanis put up in the city park. I'm the oldest of ten so part of the fun was jamming into one car sitting on top of one another and laying in the back of the vista cruiser station wagon. Kim Janine Ligon
Thanks for coming today, Tanya. I love going to see the lights!