Lights In The Heights

Well, once again we seem to have fallen off the blog wagon. We had some issues with our site, but I think Chris has worked them all out. So, I wanted to update you on some fun things we have been up to. This past weekend we headed to Houston to visit my sister and brother in law. They live in an area called the Heights and every year their neighborhood has a big holiday festival called Lights in the Heights. They have begged us to come for years, but with the all of the other things going on this time of the year we have never been able to make it. However, this year we made a point to be there and so did my parents! In addition, our cousin Karen was in the states visiting from the UK so she got to celebrate with us as well. It was so fun! Friday night we went to my uncle's house to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah.  We had a wonderful dinner and played the traditional Dreidel game. We had a great time!       

Our good family friend Barbara, my sister Claire, mom, and me.

Cousin Karen and I playing the dreidel game.

The next day we helped my sister Claire and her husband William get ready for the big neighborhood party. Everyone in the neighborhood decorates and hosts parties, but the main event is on two of the neighborhood streets. Almost every house has spectacular lights, and many porches and front yards had bands or performers that do shows all night. They also have a parade and food stands. This year the mayor was even in the parade! So hundreds of people from all over came to walk the streets and see the homes and shows. Claire and William's house was not one of the homes on the main drag, but they still have a large party every year where everyone comes and hangs out, and then everyone goes walking the neighborhood streets!

Here was the set up for our party guests. Claire had a ton of funny reindeer antlers, elf hats, or as we called them, "Christmakuh" accessories for people to wear. We made two huge pots of chili using 13 pounds of meat, and also some latkes (potato pancakes). The theme of the party was to wear a funny sweater or outfit with a lot of holiday cheer ... Chris and I dressed up, and so did Claire and William, but not many other people did. Oh well, it was still fun!

My lovely holiday vest and my mistletoe headband! 

William's elf costume. He was also setting up a fire pit in the driveway.

The house, before the guests arrived.

 

When the party started, William's sister and mom arrived with the newest additions to our family, Emily's 4-month-old twin girls! They are precious and were decked out in their Christmas outfits. Everyone was smitten!

The guests enjoying the fire.

Claire kept telling us that the event was kind of like Mardi Gras. She kept stressing the importance of taking a map with us when we walked the route because we could easily get lost in the crowd. It was so hard to believe her until we saw it with our own eyes. There were hundreds and hundreds of people in the streets. It was so crazy! She also kept saying their party was going to be fairly small this year compared to other years, but by the end of the night we figured at least 100 people had come and gone from their home. Every drop of food, including the two huge pots of chili, were gone! We later found out that William had invited a lot of people and forgot to mention that little tidbit to Claire. Ha! Oh well! The more the merrier!

Here are some of the homes on the tour. Chris took a million pictures, so these are just a few. However, you can get a good idea of what the homes looked like and the fun events every house had.

        

 

 

One house had this on their lawn! We took a pretend prom picture in our funny sweaters! In the second pic is my good friend Muffy and her husband, Chris, who also live in Houston. We invited them along as well and it was so fun hanging out with them at the party. 

I hope you get the idea of all the festivities. We had a super time and if you ever are in Houston when Lights in the Heights is happening, you should go! Now Chris and I are wondering how we could get something like this started in our own neighborhood ... maybe next year!

Love, Carrie