DONE!

Ho, Ho, Ho -- I'm done the Christmas shopping!!! I am DONE, and with 3 days to spare.

We topped off our final shopping trip with a visit to the Miracle on 34th Street. For those of you not from Bawlmer, this is a street in the city that really does up Christmas. Every rowhouse on the street is smothered in decorations and lights. They string lights across the street from the rooftops on both sides. There are revolving lights, inflatable snow globes, all sorts of moving displays. There is a Christmas tree made entirely out of hubcaps (!). There are lots of pink flamingos. Christmas trees, candy canes, christmas music piped out onto the streets. The residents pay for all of this themselves, and they don't/won't take donations to help defray the costs of running this light show. They turn on the lights the day after Thanksgiving and they run until January 1st.

I love it, and it always puts me in a holiday mood. This year we both walked the block, and then drove through. Totally different experience. The walk through let us see the little details we never catch in the car. The drive through gives you the full impact of the whole street as one display. Awesome!