Opinion : Vinton, the City of Christmas Lights

Part of the fun of Christmas is the build-up to the big day, December 25th. The Christmas wish lists, the smuggling gifts into the house to be wrapped and hidden or snuck under the tree.

My favorite part of the holiday is seeing all of the Christmas lights. Lights in the stores. Lights in and around all of the homes. It seems that this year we have even more in town that I can remember.

Vinton adopted the motto "City of Lights" I suppose in part because of the Christmas display at the Kersten residence north of town. No doubt, thanks to the Deck the House contest, there seem to be more people decorating and it's fun to see. (Thanks Vinton Parks & Rec for this idea!)

Why not start a family tradition? Grab some hot chocolate, pull the kids away from the electronics, phones and all, load them into the car and enjoy all of the lights around town.

One stop you need to make is in front of the home of Kord Sellers located at 1307 B Ave. Turn the radio station to 90.3 to enjoy music as you watch the electronic Christmas tree. (See it HEREwithout music)

You can see an old red pickup, with the tree in the back recreating the latest trend at 608 E. 6th St. Or see if you can find the almost house-sized Santa on B Ave.

There are many, many, MANY more displays around town for the family to enjoy. See how many manger scenes you can find or as my kids used to say when they were tiny, how many baby Jesus' they can fine. There's even a Minion out there, see if you can find it!

Unfortunately, this year the Kersten light display is not up, so if you have friends or relatives that drive up for this, let them know.

In the meantime, thank you to all of the Vinton residents who are sharing their lights with everyone to enjoy. Thank you for going to all of the work to brighten these long winter nights and bringing happiness to everyone!

I know this gal sure is smiling and appreciating all of your hard work to brighten this little corner of the world!