Christmas Lights

I was 0-3 in 2008, as far as seeing Christmas Lights goes.

Last year was almost magical for our two visits. Our first visit was to Way of Lights in Belleville, Illinois. It had snowed recently, and in addition to the lights, they had a petting zoo, laser show, Christmas tree and wreath contest, choirs, and a gift shop. We bought a stuffed camel as we were leaving and the proceeds from the sale of camels benefited some Catholic charity, so it was nice to know your money was going someplace good. Plus, I kept the camel out all year and everytime I looked at it, it reminded me all year of the great night I had with Jeff.

Our second visit last year was to visit Grant's Farm. That one was my favorite visit. I love Grant's Farm. They had Christmas Lights everywhere and you took the train/trolley to the mansion area, where you get two free beers, a gift shop, there were children's crafts, hot cocoa, and heated tents. There was a group of acrobats performing in the cold when we arrived. They gave a great show, and then shortly after they ended, a madrigal group started singing and performing which was also very nice. It was another incredibly romantic night and I have such great memories.

This year we tried to go to Tilles Park. We were going to watch the lights from a carriage ride, but when we found out the 20 minute carriage ride was going to cost $60, we changed our minds. So we tried to go on a Friday night when it would still be open to car traffic. We went to dinner and then I got lost trying to find Tilles Park. We spent almost an hour looking for the place and proceeded to get into a huge fight before finally giving up.

Our second try this year was to Grant's Farm again. I had tried to verify this year's activities online earlier in the week. I found a web page and the information sounded exactly like last years activities, so I tried to find a year mentioned somewhere on the page and couldn't, so I just assumed that the page I found was for this year. When I tried to show Jeff the page shortly before we left for dinner, I couldn't bring it up, which I thought was odd. We had dinner and then drove towards Grant's Farm around 8:30 on a Saturday Night. As we got closer we saw that there were only a few strings of lights up which was very different from last year. When we got to the parking lot, there were no cars and the gatehouse was empty. For those of you who don't know, Anheuser-Busch owns Grant's Farm. Anheuser-Busch was bought out by InBev this year. I don't know this for a fact, but InBev is known for trimming the fat and I'm assuming the running of Grant's Farm is considered a big piece of chub. The hours and days that Grant's Farm is open was reduced this year, right after the approval for the takeover was announced. So, our second try at a romantic Christmas evening bit the dust.

Our third try this year was a half-hearted effort at best. Jeff was late, as usual, and it was cold and our furnace wasn't working. He wanted to try Tilles Park again. I wanted to head towards Way of Lights. We settled on dinner and him getting my furnace working again. Which he did. Thanks, Jeff! I ended up sleeping on top of the covers because it was so hot in my room thanks to the furnace working again. Yay, Jeff!

So, no romantic Christmas activities for us this year. Sad. Maybe it'll be better in 2009.