Holiday Lights You Don't Want To Miss

When the kids are a bit older, I have the best idea pinned on Pinterest. Here's what will happen: I'll take the boys upstairs to get ready for bed while my ROCpoppa will be downstairs making bags of popcorn and travel mugs of hot chocolate, and warming up the car with Barenaked for the Holidays loaded in the CD player. When the kids climb into their beds, they will each find a ticket on their pillow to ride the Minivan Express for a tour of holiday lights.

Someday. At these ages (3 and 5), if they stay up late, there's hell to pay. And neither of them will drink hot chocolate. Oh well.

So on Sunday we had an early dinner, bundled up, and headed out to see some Christmas lights. Our boys like to call out "Christmas lights!" every time we pass some on their side of the car. They keep track of points based on how many lights were passed on their side. Their enthusiasm began to wind down after about five minutes...until we came to the first "jackpot. A jackpot is a house with spectacular, unbelievable lights that make you, "Ooh!," and, "Aah!" There were three jackpots on our list:

1. 16 Beauclaire Lane, Fairport, NY - Beaumont Estates, off Turk Hill Road, just north of Route 96 (Neuchatel is the nearest crossroad with Beauclaire). This display is pretty amazing; there is so much to see! Our boys love the helicopter the best. Beauclaire is a circle, so you can drive by the extravaganza, loop around the circle and drive by a second time.

2. Colony Lane, Henrietta, NY - near Lehigh Station Road & Masthead. All of the houses on this circle have created wonderful displays with over 10,000 lights and dozens of inflatables. You may drive around the circle on Colony Lane to view the lights, or park on Cape Cod and walk around to see the lights. Please do not park in the circle. The residents of Colony Lane are collecting non-perishable items for the Rush-Henrietta Area Food Terminal; please leave your items in the designated bin in the center of the circle. While the lights may be enjoyed any night from 5-10 p.m., all visitors on Fridays and Saturdays from 6 - 8:30 p.m. will have a chance to take a photo with Santa, Mrs. Claus, Elmo, and the Grinch.

3. Preston Circle, Pittsford, NY - off Park Ridge, close to Park Road Elementary School and Camp Arrowhead. This "jackpot" was a hidden treasure for us; we didn't hear about it ahead of time and had simply been driving by. There are tons of characters on display here, plus a Christmas countdown, and holiday music.

There are, of course, tons of other holiday-lights hot-spots in the Rochester area. Check out this list for "jackpot" destinations in Gates, Chili, Farmington, Victor, Irondequoit, Pittsford, East Rochester, Ontario, Penfield, Webster, and Walworth. However, we haven't visited those yet so I can't vouch for their jackpot-ness.

Do you know of any other "jackpot" holiday lights displays in the Rochester area? Be sure to Post a Comment and let us know.

Enjoy the holiday lights, and, as always, thanks for reading.