Christmas light show -- finale

If there was one thing that struck me most as we walked through the light-bedecked streets, it was the attitude of the people who walked, stood around or drove through the several blocks of decorations.

The houses were almost all worth looking at...



And simpler displays made a nice contrast...



It'd take someone more familiar than I with holiday rituals and traditions to say what a small Ferris wheel has to do with Christmas...



But it was the crowds that made it feel extra-nice. All friendly, a few stopping to comment ("getting good pictures?") while H. and I snapped off shots, people speaking Spanish, Japanese -- Toyota and Honda have their US headquarters nearby, and both have brought in plenty of people from the Home Office to work there -- and English. Young people had tables and booths set up where they sold cookies, hot chocolate, popcorn and heaven knows what else to raise money for their high schools' bands, choirs, cheerleading squads, etc.

I really wanted to photograph a lot of the people -- including a man who was walking his dog on a leash wrapped with Christmas lights -- but by the time I was ready to get to it, I had a camera-full of dead batteries. But they were what made the experience special. Just walking around under hundreds of thousands of lights alone would have meant nothing.

Should have gotten a photo of H., too. She looked so seasonally appropriate in her fur-collared quilted vest. I was tempted to grab a snap of her under the hang-gliding Santa, but she was down the street aiming her camera at something else. Had I done so, you would have seen the happiness of the occasion reflected on her face.

Fortunately, no one took my picture. Gray-bearded bears in bright-blue parkas ain't too photogenic.

On one street we did see a group of Christmas carolers, singing with the enthusiasm and beauty that only comes from wanting to be there singing for the sheer joy of it...



And with that, my story of the Christmas Lights of Torrance (or was it Lomita? -- comes to an end.

It was a wonderful evening...