Posted by
RepublicanEvangelist on Monday, December 08, 2008 1:03:14 AM
I spent another weekend attempting to bequeath the wonderful childhood I had to my children. Hence the never ending attempts to track down Christmas lights. Upon a friends recommendation, we drove out to Pasadena to Hastings Ranch. It is more of an upscale subdivision than an actual ranch. I didn't see much in terms of cattle. We didn't see much in terms of lights either. Apparently it was a bit like arriving early in the afternoon at a Stones concert and watching the roadies connecting cables. It seems that the show will be spectacular NEXT weekend. No matter my daughter slept the entire way there and 97% back. She awoke about 2 exits from my house crying for Christmas lights. So we did what we have done repeatedly over the past couple of weeks, we drove around random streets tracking down decorated homes. This brings me to a point. The growth of cheap imports from China have enabled the average home owner to decorate their homes in an elaborate way that would have required Disney animatronics a decade or two ago. The problem is everyone shops at the same stores so we saw at least three inflatable Santas on motorcycles (at separate houses, at the same house would be silly). Come to think of it, since middle age men with the middle age spread are the only ones who can afford Harleys, perhaps it wasn't Santa afterall. Contrast this with the high art of my lawn
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32730061@N06/3054821988/. We wound up at Travel Town and I forked over 21 bucks to ride the train to Santa Claus's house. Upon arriving, my children indicated that the didn't want to meet Santa. My daughter didn't like the beard thing. My son pretty much does what big sister does or doesn't do what she doesn't do. My four year old even announced that it wasn't the North Pole. Here is a picture of the pretend North Pole with someone else's kids
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32730061@N06/3091114349/ . My kids were waiting in line to get back on the train back to the valley.
Here are some pictures of the adventure :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32730061@N06/3091934118/ ,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32730061@N06/3091926916/ ,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32730061@N06/3091923430/
You can view any my photos here :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32730061@N06/