Christmas Town, USA

My husband surprised me when I got home from work today. I had planned on making chicken and some veggie sides for dinner - something easy and healthy and run-of-the-mill. Jake, however, informed me that he had made other arrangements for us tonight...

We would be venturing out. To where, I did not know. But I like surprises. And so the night began...

First, we stopped off at Sonic to pick up some food (which, if you don't know, Jake and I share a mutual and deep-seated love of Sonic Drive-Ins. I've always felt there's nothing that compares with a good ole, artery cloggin' chili-cheese coney, onion rings, and a vanilla Dr. Pepper. So when I found a man who agreed with me on that, I married him.)

After Sonic, we headed up the interstate. I knew Jake wasn't going to divulge where we were headed, so I didn't try to figure it out. We just talked about this and that...

...and then...

We reached the McAdenville exit.

And it suddenly became very clear what the surprise was. I should say, it was bright and clear.

As far down the road as I could see, every tree, every

house, every pharmacy was lit up

with twinkling red, green, and white lights.

Apparently, back in 1956, the McAdenville Men’s Club had the idea of using lights to decorate a few trees around the McAdenville Community Center. With the permission of town officials, nine trees were decorated that first year. The reaction was so favorable that each year since then the number of decorations has increased. Now, it's an all-out, town-wide festival of lights. It's incredible.

I couldn't help feeling charmed, in an old town, transportive sort of way, to see lampposts adorned with lighted wreaths,

carolers on the steps of the church, front doors transformed with ribbons and bows into giant Christmas packages, sparkles of light and color all around, and from every person whose path we crossed, an enthusiastic "Merry Christmas!"

When we arrived back home, I looked up the history of Christmas Town, as it has affectionately come to be known. I found it quite interesting that they claim outright on the town's official website that they desire for McAdenville to be "a special place at a very special time of year where almost every home and evergreen tree proclaim the birth of Jesus."

Huh. No wonder it felt so welcoming.