Lights on the Neuse

Maddie and I just got back from some special alone time. Dan and I alternate taking Maddie on outings to spend special time together....usually involving sweets of some kind lol!! Tonight I took her to Lights on the Neuse which is a huge Christmas lights display spread out over a local farm with over one million lights. I had low expectations because we went to a similar place last year and it wasn't very good. But let me tell you, this place was fantastic!! We got there and went to say hello to Santa.....Maddie was not such a fan this year, but we said hello and merry Christmas to him. Then we went over and got on the tractor pulled hayride. There were light displays everywhere, snow men, candy canes, stockings, snowflakes, reindeer, wreaths, ginger bread men, farm animals, and there were random abandoned tobacco barns covered in lights, and that was all before we even got to the woods. The hayride went through about 1 mile of woods with lights over head, and displays on all sides, and get this......snow machines overhead that were making real snow!! There was music piped through speakers on the hayride, and it seemed that the tractor triggered the lights to turn on which is a nice way to conserve energy. Maddie's favorites were the barn that was erected from lights and the farm animals, and the duck pond made of lights with all the duckies. My favorite was the house front made entirely of lights that was two stories high and so, so bright. I'm serious; this was the coolest thing I have seen in a long time. The only negative thing that I can say is that it was freezing.....seriously; it was 32 degrees out, and so very cold! I think that Maddie was warm enough because when we got to the car and I took her jacket off her body was warm, but I can guarantee that her feet were cold and her hands probably were too even with thick mittens on. I did not dress warm enough and was SO cold I was kinda wishing it would end halfway through, and the hayride was a lot longer than I had expected.....45 minutes is a long time when your hands are blocks of ice!! lol After the hayride we went to the sweet shoppe that had fresh popped caramel corn, hot cocoa and homemade candies and treats and Maddie picked out some chocolate covered pretzels.....I really picked them out for her, but she didn't seem to mind (and I didn't even have one!). The girl loves her some chocolate. All in all it was a really nice outing. I wish now that I had brought my camera, but while on the hayride when I was trying to hold Maddie on my lap and alternate putting my hands between my legs for warmth, my camera would have been in the way! It was so cold!!! My feet are still a little cold and I'm wrapped up in a blanket in my nice warm house. I think I need some tea to warm me up. Merry Christmas!

P.S. Just in case anyone is curious, the Neuse is a local river that runs through our town and surrounding towns.....thus the name Lights on the Neuse. It's a curious name.

This is a picture from their website.