We hope you enjoyed the show this year and that you and your family enjoy a healthy and delightful 2010. Thank all of you for helping us support the HOPE Food Bank in Aubrey. We spent some time helping stock the shelves at the food bank this year – not only do they need your donations more than ever, but we were able to witness your gifts in action. So thank you once again.
Thank you to our neighbors who don’t participate in the show with us (yet!) for your tolerance of our holiday insanity and the angst it causes with traffic and noise from time to time.
Thank you to our visitors for coming by, sharing in our holiday spirit and being respectful of our neighborhood, our children and our neighbors.
… and remember… Christmas is a state of mind!
Well, here we are – Christmas Eve is upon us once again and it’s hard to believe how quickly it has snuck up on us. As the stores begin to close up, the streets become quieter, the baking and cooking begins and the kids level of excitement creeps ever higher and higher (and my excitement of the possibility of a white Christmas continues to increase) –
From all of us to all of you:
Evergreen boughs that fill our homes
With fragrant Christmas scents,
Hearts filled with the loving glow
That Christmas represents;
Christmas cookies, turkeys stuffed,
Festive holly berry,
Little faces bright with joy,
Loved ones being merry;
Parties, songs, beribboned gifts,
Silver bells that tinkle,
Christmas trees and ornaments,
Colorful lights that twinkle;
Relatives waiting with open arms
To smile and hug and kiss us;
These are some of the special joys
That come along with Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all and a VERY special thank you for helping us support the HOPE Food Bank. it is because of you that many local families will enjoy a brighter holiday this year.
The Shuck family (one of the homes in our light show) posted this note to our community message board and I think it sums things up perfectly:
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For all of you that have donated food to the Hope pantry in Aubrey, I would like to just say thank you and let you know what a difference you all have made. We even had Girl Scout Troop #277 drop off a bunch of bunch of food after a Caroling for Canned Goods drive that they did on December 12th just to contribute to this cause!
On Saturday morning we took our first run of food over there. While we are definitely off of last year’s totals, we still had to fold down the back 2 seats of my wife’s Durango to get all the food and clothing in. When the girls arrived to drop it off, the shelves were in desperate need! In fact, as they were unloading, some of the food was going directly out to people in need. There are several homeless people in the area that are regular visitors there, and so they made sure to separate foods that didn’t require a can opener or heat.
We get such great gratification from this part of the light display that I felt that this definitely needs to be reported back to you all.
While I do hate that heathergirl feels that this is nothing but a nuisance, I would like to underscore the fact that through the rest of you, there are a bunch of people in need this season that are receiving much needed benefits from this!
Thanks to all of you!
I have to admit being a bit bummed out today – not enough to dampen my massive holiday spirit though!
Just a quick note to remind everyone that when it rains our display generally doesn’t work very well. The lawn lights trigger ground fault protection just as they should – for the safety of everyone. That, in turn, cuts power to multiple channels of animation.
Hence, depending on how things shake out with the weather this afternoon, the display may not be running this evening.
That’s a real bummer of a possibility for us and certainly a disappointment to many of you in the community.
However, if we do have to shut down the display this evening, we will be sure that Santa is still working hard in our upstairs window – and many of the kiddos will be happy just to see Santa one last time before his leaves this evening to go delivery presents all over the world!
Merry Christmas!
Here’s a rough cut of what the show looks like this year. There is no way to do justice to 4 houses synchronized together on opposite sides of the street – but we tried.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3897719/transiberian_orchestra_wizards_in_winter_2009_providence_christmas/
Just a reminder that if you enjoy the lights, please pull to the side of the road being sure not to block anyone’s driveway.
We’ve had several reports of cars blocking our neighboring driveways so they couldn’t get it – and have witnessed multiple nightly occurrences of people stopping in the middle of the road to watch the lights – this is VERY dangerous. PLEASE do not stop in the middle of the road and do not block any driveways when you pull to the side.
Funny thing is that the best views of our display actually come from a few blocks up in either direction – try it, you’ll like it!
Once again we want to thank everyone who has donated to the HOPE Food Bank. The HOPE Food Bank serves families in the Aubrey and surrounding areas who might need some assistance during hardship – they have an amazing opportunity to help local families in need have a brighter holiday. Thank you for being a part of our community and for helping support their efforts.
The season started off somewhat slow, but we are now are target to deliver about a 15% increase in donations over last! That is fantastic news and is completely attributable to the giving nature of all our friends, neighbors and visitors!
