Christmas 2014, NOLA

It seems no matter where you live or where you call home, that is the place you consider most awesome for Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year. If you live in Denver then nothing says "merry" quite like crisp, powdered mountains. In New York City it's the twinkling tree and ice skaters at Rockefeller Center. I have a friend in New Zealand to loves barbecues on the beach!

Holiday lights at the Roosevelt

In New Orleans, a Catholic community by large, it's lights. From the Celebration in the Oaks to the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel, let there by lights.

There's nothing New Orleans does only half way. Our attitude is, if you're going to bother, do it right! Keep it original, and keep it real. The holidays are no exception. No matter where you walk, whether in Bywater or Uptown, someone somewhere has done LIGHTS! Not just a bush or two, or a creche, or an animatronic reindeer. We're talking lights!

Take a look at this yard. These are three (3) eighty foot tall oak trees, and not one inch of them isn't covered!

Three Oak Trees in the spirit

I know, there are lights by you, too. I've seen the awesome light shows done to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's cacophonic Wizards of Winter (Google it, if you haven't). I'm impressed. 

How about restaurants? This is a Mexican place just down the road. The "ornaments" you see are four feet in diameter.

Okay, why do we bother? I'll let you in on a little secret. These aren't the efforts solely for the Christmas season. That's just the start of it. We take the 12 days of Christmas very seriously around here. It's a timer, a countdown, if you will. Because our first parade of the year happens on January 6th, the twelfth night. 

Then, it's Mardi Gras!

Most venues change out the "red" lights for "purple" lights, and we get Mardi Gras lights for the next how-many weeks until Lent. See? We got a plan! It's worth setting up for three days since they might last three months!

Happy Almost Mardi Gras!