The Best Christmas Lights in Houston

Jingle Bells. Batman smells. Christmas is just days away.  It never fails that you start the holiday season thinking that you’ll have so much time to do all the holiday things and then a few days before christmas you’re rushing to get just a few things done. One thing that we checked off our list for the year was to find the best Christmas lights in Houston.  I’m telling you – if you’re in the Houston area and are looking for amazing christmas lights, you have to go to River Oaks.  River Oaks is gorgeous during Christmas. If you’re not familiar with Houston, River Oaks is the swanky… and I mean “woah Dolly” type swanky.  If you’re anything like me, you might just want to drive through a car wash and slick down that cowlick before you enter the neighborhood. But the huge houses and fancy yards are kinda what makes River Oaks at Christmas magical.  Let me warn you now that these lights are not the flashy ones set to music with projectors and all that jazz. These lights are the ones that you’ll get lost in and feel like you’re being flown off to Hogwarts or some other enchanted place. The residents go all out decorating their houses.  And yes.. that picture above is actually someone’s front yard.  This is also one house and it’s yard. ONE house. If you look closely at the picture, you can see Santa on the right side of the fence getting ready to do a little breaking and entering.  It was crazy because almost all of the houses would let you walk into their yard and take pictures with the lights.  I would have been the old lady screaming, “get off my yard ya varmits! ” … or something like that.  If you want to go, I recommend grabbing a hot beverage (or cold because it’s Hot Houston), parking your car on one of the calmer streets and walking. There were so many people out casually walking, riding their bikes, taking a horse drawn carriage ride and we even saw some people using longboards to see the lights. It’s a very laid back atmosphere and all totally free.  If you’re in the Houston area and want to see the lights in River Oaks, I suggest starting on Inwood Drive and also hitting up Del Monte Street.  This one was my favorite and I can’t remember what street it was on! But it was in a less crowded area and we had the house to ourselves to take fun pictures like this one: I offered to do that pose next and my daughter just laughed. I don’t know why. So find the best Christmas lights in Houston is marked off our list and I’m happy as a clam that’s been looking at really bright lights for the past two hours.  Tomorrow we mark the next thing off of our list: Make Santa Bread for the neighbors.