Last night we decided to get in the holiday spirit by participating in the lighting of the holiday trees in John’s neighborhood. John lives in an old, historic neighborhood and most residents have a real community spirit. In past years, this has been a big social event with lots of caroling, hot chocolate, cookies and conversation. Over the past year or so, some of the newer residents (along with some older residents) have been trying to impose a historic overlay plan on the neighborhood that will restrict remodeling and landscaping. This has caused a rift that has apparently affected neighborhood events.
As we walked from John’s house to the small children’s tree, we were not surprised to find mostly young families rushing to the lighting. We were disappointed to find no singing, no organization and a very unceremonious plug of the tree lights into the power source. Immediately, the crowd (about 30 adults and children) departed the children’s tree and hurried to the other end of the boulevard for the lighting of the big tree.
When we arrived at the second lighting, a few others showed up, I would say maybe 40-50 adults and kids total but it was not the gathering John had experienced in the “early” years. We realized that this was not going to be the festive occasion we had hoped for so we quietly slipped out of the group and walked home.
Our next stop, downtown. After dinner at Trio, we strolled through the city and enjoyed the festive decorations. Since John has been under the weather this week, we wrapped the evening up early. A few pics from our adventure are below, more can be found in our Picasa sight. Hopefully we will add more holiday pictures as the season progresses!
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnandbeverly74/ChristmasInTheCity122008#
Holiday lights at Trio
Mannequin forms dressed up in holiday finery at the “Reruns” shop
Looking in at the baked goodies in the window at Cafe4, Market Square’s newest restaurant and bakery
John warming himself by the outdoor fire
Christmas tree on Market Square
