Alight at Night Delights

I was feeling less than enthusiastic about the holidays this year. I have an inordinate amount of work on my plate right now, plus a typical holiday schedule packed with parties and engagements and so I’ve been feeling more frazzled than festive as of late. When this happens you really have no choice but to find Christmas spirit on your own, if it isn’t coming looking for you. Thankfully, this year I found mine at Alight at Night.

My family was invited to come and check out Alight At Night at Upper Canada Village on it’s opening weekend this December. After our amazing experience at Pumpkinferno in the fall, we were only too happy to return. Like a child, I started to get excited for our evening as soon as we saw the lit up train and train station from the road leading in.

Each year, from early December to the beginning of January, Upper Canada Village adorns it’s many heritage building with a million lights (and counting). It’s the perfect place to get your Christmas on. You can join in caroling in the church or take a horse drawn wagon ride through the village. And yes, the horses have jingle bells. New this year is the horse drawn carriage ride for two. This adds a nice romantic element for those looking for a little alone time. I also might add that this would be a perfect place to propose to the love of your life. Just throwing it out there guys.

We opted to walk around the village. Of course as good Canadians you know that it would be folly to come not dressed for the occasion, but I’ll just throw out a small reminder anyway. Upper Canada Village is not only in Canada, it’s on the water, so it can get very chilly. We brought our snowpants, toques, mitts, coats, and warm boots. Dressed appropriately, we had a very toasty evening roaming up and down the streets admiring the lights. It took us just over an hour to walk the whole village at a slow pace, stopping to admire the displays. We particularly enjoyed the sound and light show. The girls on the other hand quite enjoyed a stop at the Gingerbread House for what else, gingerbread. There was something to please everyone.

In no rush to leave this little holiday heaven, we headed to the warmth of the Harvest Barn for a very festive turkey dinner with all the fixings. A brief stop in the Christmas store on the way out to pick up some of their delicious bread and we were back in the car for the journey home.

I don’t know if it was the lights, or the turkey dinner or possibly even the Christmas carols, perhaps it was a combination of all three, but it fair to say that I am now officially in the mood for Christmas. Alight at Night is a new holiday tradition for this household.