This afternoon the girls and I went for a walk around the neighborhood, taking some little gifts to a few neighbors. I had planned to go earlier in the day, when it was still light outside, but it took me longer to get organized than I had thought. So by the time we headed outside to make our deliveries, it was dark, almost five o’clock. Flashlights would be fun though, I figured, and a little Christmas snack would help motivate hungry tummies too.
The girls each had a flashlight in one hand and a candy cane crisp cookie in the other. Bundled in our winter jackets, with Elisabeth in the double stroller, we headed out around the block.
Although most of our recipients were not home, or didn’t make it to the door, it was still a fun time. I like leaving surprises anyway. We walked around seeing all the lights. Taking the van could have been an option but I figured it wouldn’t be quite the same experience to drive. We would have missed a lot of the lights. We got all sorts of surprises. We’re not out at night much, so I hadn’t seen what was in our neighborhood. We saw dressed up gardens, a snowflake atop a tree, decorated porches and eaves, glowing balls, lots of blinking and glitter.
The way back home is uphill, so steep that sometimes the girls will complain. But in the dark, with flashlights and cookies in hand, they seemed happy enough. We could hear the tree frogs croaking as we passed by the pond. I don’t think I had heard that sound since the summer. We also heard the rush of traffic from the nearby freeway, cars heading to the Sunday night ferry.
And we got to hear Abigail singing. She made up her own song, walking behind me, flashlight in front of her face. She sang: “I say Merry Christmas to the whole wide world. Merry Christmas to the whole wide world…..”
1 response so far ↓
1 Katherine // Dec 22, 2003 at 7:42 am
We’ve been enjoying counting the holiday lights that are shining each night around our square. Whenever we come home from an outing after dark, we take an extra drive all around the square, or sometimes we go out and walk it, like last night with some friends who were over playing games. Our high number so far is 32. We only count the lights that are actually ON on any given evening. Emily likes to count the ones that are off too, so she comes up with her own separate number. They are so beautiful to see, and representative of the Light of the World who came at Christmas.