Deacon Dave’s Lighting Ceremony:  Do you have any hometown Christmas traditions that really bring your community together?

Every year in our hometown of Livermore, California, Deacon Dave Rezendez from our parish puts on a Christmas light display that’s famous, not only in our little town but throughout the Bay Area.  The lighting ceremony is always attended by the mayor.  This year our new mayor, the old mayor, and a few other politicians attended and spoke.  Deacon Dave has folks who help him create a fun walk-through display.  This year the display had 350,000 lights and the theme is “Do You Believe?”.  More than 50 marriage proposals have taken place at Deacon Dave’s Christmas display!

Did I mention this all takes place at Deacon Dave’s own house?   Can you imagine?

We attended the opening light ceremony.  There’s always a long procession before Deacon Dave announces the year’s theme and turns on the lights:

This year Aidan walked in the opening ceremony procession as an altar bearer.   Here he is processing with his good friend Curtis:

Here’s Lydia, waiting patiently for the big moment:

And here are a few photos from the front of the house when the lights came on:

Photos of course can’t do the moment justice.  We’re grateful for Deacon Dave and his family and their tremendous generosity!

Decorating the Family Tree:  Today we got our tree from the Boy Scouts Christmas Tree lot and enjoyed our usual family tree decorating party.  I love the palpable excitement when the boxes come out and the kids see familiar ornaments and decorations.  It’s a frenzy of unpacking.

Here I am with the older 3 children.  I’m working on arranging the ribbon that I bought on clearance at the craft store last week while the kiddos add their ornaments.

Okay, they look a little dazed in the photos but I swear the kids were jumping around like crickets!

Aidan was tall enough this year to put the angel on the top of the tree without being hoisted by Dad!

Dominic had the honor of flipping on the lights this year.  I still need to fuss around with my ribbon idea and put on a tree skirt.  We usually just put a sheet around tree, but I’ve been meaning to make a burlap tree skirt for years.  Yet another year and no tree skirt!  I was in Walmart yesterday and saw a burgandy red tree skirt that would look nice with the poinsettias on the tree.  It was super cheap, so I may just snap one up.

A fun weekend of lights!  As the last leaves are falling from the ornamental cherry tree in our front yard, the Christmas lights remind us of the promise of spring.  A lot is happening while nature sleeps, preparing for a beautiful awakening in just a few months.  And in just a few weeks, we will remember that the promise of history was fulfilled when the Messiah appeared under a starlit sky, tiny in his mother’s arms.