Does anyone know...?

...did she say yes?

Christmas Eve Luminaries

I'd first heard of luminaries as a Christmas tradition some years ago, from a cousin who lived in New Mexico. In the warm winter night, the streets there glowed by the light of candles, nestled inside paper bags. Later, when I lived in Southern California, I saw some luminaries adorning walkways during my husband's and my balmy Christmases there.

A few weeks after we moved into our current house in Westfield, we received a letter about a longtime neighborhood Christmas Eve tradition, whereby residents on Dorian Road, Dorian Place, and Dorian Court light luminaries. A few volunteers collect donations (benefiting the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Rotary Club) for candles, bags, and also sand, to help those brown paper sacks stand firm against any unforgiving Northeast winds. On Christmas Eve, residents set up their bags, fold down the top edges, and position white tapers inside. At about dusk, the luminaries are lit.



The effect of a long chain of simple, beautiful luminaries is mesmerizing in person.



We walk Dorian Road after dinner, admiring the lights and decorations.



Cars full of onlookers slowly coast down Dorian Road at night.



Thank you for reading my blog this year. Wishing you and yours warmth and peace in 2011.

The Night Before Christmas

We got a head start on our light-peeping, and we'll be out again tonight, to hopefully catch a few more beautifully (and very creatively) decorated houses.

I snapped these photos from the car yesterday. Enjoy them!

Have a merry Victorian Christmas. This (pink!) house on Westfield Avenue makes my heart stop every time I pass it:




Hello, gorgeous.



Love the "more is more" approach, complete with countdown clock to Christmas:



Whoa. Hope someone puts the ladder back for this poor guy stringing up his lights:



Nah, just an ingenious decoration.



What's going round and round the ice with that snowman?



A couple of festive M&Ms:



Wishing you a basketful of happy memories this Christmas!