Holiday Lights

Since she's forward facing and taller this year, Ruby could see holiday lights when we were out driving. It didn't matter if there was one strand of lights on a porch or the entire house was covered. She loved them all. Several streets and houses in our neighborhood went all out so we took many detours when we were out driving after dark.

After school got out, Grandma O'Brien, Auntie and I took Ruby to the Fantasy of Lights in Vasona Park. I'm not sure if she was more excited to see the lights or get out of her car seat. Either way, she was beside herself with joy. At one point she even said, "That tree is gorgeous!"



Thanks to KKB, we also got tickets for the Holiday Lights Train at Roaring Camp Railroads. Lights, a train, caroling and Santa...sign us up. Unfortunately, we had tickets the weekend it was supposed to storm. We thought about canceling but the weather was fine all day so we left as planned. As soon as we got to the mountains, it poured down rain. Poured. It was raining so hard we started making plans in case we couldn't drive home that night. Lucky for us, it quit as soon as we got over the mountains and didn't do more than sprinkle the rest of the night. Phew.











We don't know the little boy next to Ruby in the last picture. The kids all gathered near us to sing some Christmas carols. She put her arm around him and joined right in.

The train ride wasn't until 8 PM so we put Ruby in her pajamas before we drove home. We figured she'd fall asleep and we'd put her to bed when we got there. She got a little loopy and her eyes were nearly closed...until we pulled into In-N-Out (sorry...no dinner) when she perked up and requested a "cheese sammich and milk." Considering Ruby never asks for food, we said yes.



Auntie had to pull off the paper so she didn't eat it and her sandwich was gone before we got to Willow Road. Looks like the train *and* In-N-Out will both be a yearly tradition.