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Traditional feel with electric convenience... luminarios and star lights.
Photo: Brax - VPC
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Holidays Lights Offer Warmth and Welcoming from the Cold.
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Welcoming fires and farolitos bring neighbors together in Taos, New Mexico. Photo: File |
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ld neighborhoods throughout the Mesilla Valley, especially around Old Mesilla have for years set out the authentic luminarios and bathed their homes in the warm glow of holiday warmth. In the Upper Valley of El Paso and far southern New Mexico the tradition has likewise been honored in many homes and neighborhoods of the El Paso Country Club area.
El Paso also has its areas where luminarios are quite the holiday spectacle. Cumberland Circle in the older central heights north of the Five Points area, near the eastern entrance to Scenic Drive, has been a magnificent draw for thousands to enjoy the lights of luminarios. On the Westside, near the west entrance to Scenic Drive, the Rim Road and Kern Place areas have also stood out and continue to dazzle the eye and senses with the embracing sight of lighted luminarios to honor the season.
Scenic Drive, which runs along the southern tip of the Franklin Mountains, has also become a tradition with luminarios lit all along the path for one night during the holidays. On the night when the luminarios are lit, traffic is restricted to one way from east to west along the mountain path and is coordinated by volunteers raising donations of food and clothes for the needy families in El Paso. Bonfires or farolitos are also burning along the route to highlight the areas where donations of food or clothes or funds can be dropped off .
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Luminarios cast the welcoming glow and warmth for the season. Photo: File - VPC |
Now you can buy electric "luminarios" that provide a nice safe and convenient alternative especially for the smaller and more senior households of today. When combined with other outdoor lights they make the perfect hoiday welcoming gesture. Luminarios and the strings of little white star lights make a perfect combination. The trick, it seems, is to be creative without going overboard. There is no need for the astronauts to see it. Sometimes, even one string of luminarios or twenty real luminarios along the walk way and a string of star lights outlininging the door or window or even a bush makes for a distinctive and warm holiday decoration.
In order for a whole neighborhood to get into the act someone will have to be forward thinking... proactive. One can start thinking about next year's 2009 Holiday Season now. By discussing the idea with others in your neighborhood and area a group display can be executed to show off your home and neighborhood with tateful luminarios and star lights... it could just boost your home's market value.
When a neighborhood lights up their street together it instills a community pride in all. Luminarios and star lights are economical enough for all and beautiful enough to highlight any home, street or neighborhood.
Let's make this a Las Cruces and Mesilla Valley tradition and show the world what a little light can do to banish the gloomy darkness of stress that impacts many of us during the holidays. Let's make our neighborhoods the ones that people come to look at as well as the ones that nurture friendships and community. Who knows the national media might even feature your neighborhood.
It is not about making your house look like an amusement park. While it may bring the gawkers... it isn't very inviting. The holiday season is about showing the warmth and welcoming that makes our community better. Let us all join in and have a safe and giving Holiday Season. That way 2009 will be a grand and prosperous year for us all.
Holiday lighting is for everyone. You don't have to believe in one religion or another... it is about community.
For the 2009 Holiday Season we will be giving prizes to some of our most beautifully lighted homes. So let us know... and send us a photo or two. So start planning your home lighting design of luminarios and strings of star lights.
Happy Holidays.
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Prepared by UVL staff.
Photos: Brax - Valley Publishing Company
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Letter to the Editor, Upper Vallely Living Magazine
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