Christmas Lights

We are big fans of viewing Christmas lights around the holidays and this year was no exception. We spent Christmas with our daughter's family which included our 4 grandkids! Here's just a sampling of what we saw:

We took our grandkids to see a huge drive through display near Boerne, Tx, called The Jones CHRISTmas Ranch that had to have millions of lights. They did a great job of capturing the religious aspects of the season mixed with secular displays. They had holiday favorites like the Grinch complete with a little "Whoville" town, Charlie Brown and other movie characters from the holidays.

We visited downtown Fredericksburg, Tx also and saw their light display in the center of town. The town center's trees were all wrapped with amazing lights and since they have a strong German influence, they had a giant Christmas Pyramid, ice skating rink, wooden train play set, and a nearby church had a drive through/walk through live nativity story to see!

After Christmas day we traveled up to Grapevine, Tx, the self-proclaimed Christmas Town of Texas. The historic downtown is completely lit up with lights and there's a ton of activities going on all the time. They also have a historic train ride that will take you to the Stockyards in Fort Worth. It's an amazing display!

Speaking of the Stockyards, they were completely decorated as well for Christmas. A giant Christmas tree in the center and lights everywhere. The entire area was very crowded the day we visited due to a bowl game being played at TCU stadium nearby. The Drover Hotel was amazing to see also. They were completely decked out for the holidays and their patio area along the river was spectacular to see.

The Cook Children's Hospital in downtown Fort Worth sets up a huge display of lights in front of their building that was awe inspiring to see especially since the reality of a "children's hospital" made it a somber moment as well.

The last big Christmas lights event we visited this season was Ice at the Gaylord Texan. The Gaylord is an amazingly beautiful hotel inside and for the holidays they set up a complete Christmas Town with all sorts of (paid) events for kids and adults alike. We walked around the area and took in the sights of this magnificent hotel but the main attraction for us was the Rudolph the Reindeer themed ice sculpture display. Hand crafted by artisans, this display really looked straight out of the movie! Everyone seemed to be having a really great time! It was really cool! (No, I mean it. Like 9 degrees! Bring gloves and a hat!)