Exterior Illumination 2017 Version

I believe back in the early months of this blog, when we were in the first months of having our first house, I did a post about exterior illumination when we hung actual, real Christmas lights on the house and in a tree in the front yard.  Whoa.  Must have been nice to just have time to do whatever we wanted!  Haha...that's kind of a joke.  I know lots of people pull it off but we haven't managed to do so since 2009.  Fortunately, there are many houses in town that give everyone something to see at Christmas.  And some of the most famous ones are right in our neighborhood!

Friday night was Ben's Christmas party for Boy Scouts which was a bowling party.  We knew Milo would cause trouble so we planned for one parent and Milo to leave when necessary.  After stopping him from running down the lane multiple times and having to physically restrain him from trying to lift bowling balls only to drop them directly on the ground it was time for him to go.  I stayed with the two older kids through a tedious game of bowling with four Kindergartners and their toddler and preschool siblings which took for-ev-er.  On the way home I decided to detour past the craziest house in town since it was a really warm night for December.

They usually turn on the display the night of Thanksgiving but they weren't ready yet this year (probably because they were still building that rollercoaster on the roof-that's a new addition) so this was the opening weekend and we had to park a block away and walk to the house.  Like previous years, it did not disappoint.  I took a few pictures although I hope to come back with the whole family another night before Christmas.

The kids loved the "Jesus scene".  There are a few in the yards on the drive to Ben's school and they always fight over who sees them first because they fight over everything. 

This old time pickup is also new this year.  

The famous sidewalk arch...this thing is made for social media pictures.  

Like I said earlier, we haven't put any outdoor Christmas decorations up since 2009...until now. Last year our neighbor got one of those "As Seen on TV" star shower projectors.  It is a little projector that projects green and red lights on your house.  It has a sensor that turns it on when it gets dark outside. After Christmas last year I found one on clearance.  Now there is a newer model that projects little pictures so now the one from last year costs the same as it did on clearance last year but oh well.  The star version is more tasteful...see for yourself.   

Isn't that festive?  

Allan did not know what to do about the little lights flashing through the window.  

He sat and stared at them all night. 

Then he realized they were coming through the basement window too so he sat on the stairs and watched them.  He's funny.  It will be a fun month for him between the star shower and chewing on the Christmas tree.