Lighting of the Doves

One of the things that I love about The Woodlands are the activities that our little Township puts together. There are fly fishing, yoga, Pilate's, soccer, basketball and any number of random classes you can take. There is a playground and park on every corner, and everything is always clean and beautiful. This last Saturday they held the traditional "Lighting of the Doves" ceremony. As a kid, the doves were two dimensional, and were directly in front of a huge stand of trees near the entrance to The Woodlands. When they built the overpass years ago, the doves disappeared, and the residents all freaked out about where they were going to go. Sadly, the three original doves have been long gone, replaced by some beautiful three dimensional ones that hang from a bridge near the mall. Since then, the lighting ceremony has expanded to all the lights in the shopping centers, the big tree, and whatever else they have Christmas lights attached to.

This last Saturday there was a huge celebration for the dove lighting-tons of activities and food, and even a snow pen full of real snow. We had a snowball fight for the first time in Texas in the last few years, ate fried oreos, made lanterns, watched fireworks and enjoyed Santa's arrival via giant iceberg (boat) down the river walk. The kids we had with us were beside themselves when Santa arrived-it was pretty cute. I will have to say though, Christmas activities before Thanksgiving are a little too much sometimes. I appreciate each Holiday, especially Thanksgiving and it felt like maybe they could have waited another week. Jeff almost wouldn't go because he "doesn't do Christmas before Thanksgiving."