Christmas Tradition

One of our family traditions at Christmas time is to take a ride to Hubbard Park in Meridan to see the lights. The city sets up light displays throughout the whole park. There are dolphins in the pond, squirrels in the trees, lions hiding in the tall grass, and even some penguins building an igloo. My favorite is the beavers playing by the dam.

After we have made two circuits of the park, we drive to the local Friendly's restaurant and all have ice cream. (Really, what else do you eat when it is below freezing outside, right?) This year we invited another family to come along. Due to Sam's crazy schedule, we didn't get on the road until well after 7PM. The 45 minute ride was a bit noisy with ten girls and four adults all trying to have conversations while the Christmas carols played. There was also the emergency bathroom stop at Lowes, but we eventually got there.

Friendly's was a bit overwhelmed by all of us, I think. Our server did great dealing with fourteen different orders from four tables. It was a very late night, but everyone handled it very well. We were all back home and in our beds by 11PM!

Christmas Lights

Last night we did our annual trek to Hubbard Park in Meriden to drive through the light displays. This tradition began when Abby was just about 18 months old, I was pregnant with Nathalie, and we lived in Waterbury. In the warmer spring and summer months Abby and I would drive up to the park and feed the geese and ducks. Having grown up entirely in the country, our 10 month stint of living in a condo in the heart of the city, nearly did me in. Our almost daily travels to the park kept me mostly sane (I did say "mostly"!). And so it was we discovered that Hubbard Park and the city of Meriden put on the most amazing (and FREE!) light display at Christmas time.

Every year ever since that December 1995, we have loaded the girls into the van and driven through the lights. Some years one or two of the kids would fall asleep before we even got there. Some years we took friends or cousins with us. Every year, depending on what kind of money we had available, we either stopped for a dinner out or a special dessert.

The lights themselves are amazing! The majority are plain white lights and they use the natural terrain of the park for their displays. The lions are nestled in the tall grasses, the swans are swimming on the pond, the turtles are just emerging from the pond, and the beavers are placed below the "dam". There are giant snowflakes hanging from trees and a lighted horse-drawn sleigh loaded with presents.

We always drive around the park twice with everyone switching sides in the van on the second go around. Going on a weeknight is always better than on a weekend night. There was hardly any traffic so we were able to take our time and not feel like we had to keep moving through. I highly reccommend that if you get a chance, you take a drive through the area. I think the best part is that as you are heading home (if heading east on 691)you can look down onto the whole display from the highway. It is quite breathtaking!