las luces

without snow to look forward to, there's gotta be some other way for south floridians to signal the beginning of the holiday season. christmas lights were always exciting when i was little. searching for them usually put me to sleep in the backseat, but once there, man, was i jazzed! there was one house in north lauderdale that morphed into two; before too long, the whole street was lit up like the vegas strip. there was the house in sunrise that covered their lawn with cotton batting and train sets. the one in coral springs by city hall that had a tiny village in the swiss alps that grew and grew over the years into what would've been several larger vilages and ski resorts, complete with lifts and train sets.

with no white christmas to speak of in the district, i'm glad christmas was back to "normal" for me. the folks and i went out light hunting on christmas eve. these two houses were nothing compared to the ones i remember growing up, but they were the best we found on a whim.

then again, maybe the lights twinkled a little brighter in the eyes of a five year-old. nearly two dozen years have passed since then. does nostalgia make things seem brighter and better than they really were?