Family Time

With my final craft show of the year behind me, I can slow down on the sewing and try to relax and enjoy the Christmas season. I want to spend time with the kids and give them some much needed attention. So tonight I loaded the whole family into my Suburban and we took a ride down Christmas Tree Lane. It took us about an hour to get thru two miles of beautifully decorated homes. We tuned in to the "official" Christmas Tree Lane radio station, sang silly songs, oohed and aahed over the lights, and even got to shake hands with Santa! As silly as it was, we all had such a great time.

Here is a list of fun facts about Christmas Tree Lane in Fresno, California:

*Christmas Tree Lane celebrates its 86th anniversary in 2008, making it one of the longest-running holiday events nationwide.
*It began in 1920 with the decoration of a single tree in the memory of a child who died.
*The lane went dark in 1941 [wartime restrictions] and 1973 [energy crisis].
*The lane has made the Washington Post as a holiday tradition.
*Lane coordinators have improved energy efficiency with better wiring, cutting power requirements by nearly 50 percent over the past eight years.
*More than 100,000 people visit Christmas Tree Lane each year.