Thursday, December 20, 2012

Christmas Traditions--Zoolights


Since we moved to Arizona over a year ago I've had a difficult time capturing the "feeling" of Christmas out here in the desert.  I was born and raised in Wisconsin and the memories of my Christmas's there include snow, cold temperatures, the family car getting stuck in the snow after visiting Grandma and Grandpa Christmas Eve, building snow forts, sledding down the hill we lived at the top of and filling the freezer with snowballs for a fight with the neighborhood kids.  Don't get me wrong—Christmas in the desert is unique and beautiful in its own way, but I miss the cold and snow—just around the holiday.   
 
 
So I've started a new Christmas tradition since moving to Arizona.  Each Christmas Eve we head to the Phoenix Zoo—voted one of the top 5 zoos in the nation for children—and spend a couple of hours walking around drinking hot chocolate and eating roasted nuts while taking in Zoolights.  It's an amazing and beautiful display of lights and decorations in a desert setting.  The zoo is transformed into a little magical Christmas village with millions of colored lights and a now- famous Music in Motion light display—twenty-six trees that dance to music around a lake.
 
 
Here's a youtube video of last years' Zoolights  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B82MssZYuco
 
So tell me...what family Christmas traditions do you look forward to every year?
 
 
Marin Thomas
Beau: Cowboy Protector *Harts of the Rodeo* Nov 2012
No Ordinary Cowboy *Rodeo Rebels* April 2013
The Cowboy Next Door *The Cash Brothers* July 2013

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas, Marin

You can find the magic of Christmas wherever you live, I grew up in Southern California with many a Christmas day in the 70's. and never a white one, Now, that I live in North Carolina we have had a white Christmas as we do get 4 seasons here.

Marin Thomas said...

Hi Tammy-Merry Christmas to you and yours, too! I do miss the white stuff, I admit but you're right, it's up to us to find our Christmas spirit no matter where we live :-)