All About the Lights - Tues., Dec. 31

I'm going to take a moment. Breathe deep. Let it out. Ahh. Life has been kind of crazy since my last blog. Now where was I? Oh, I know, I was ready to tell you about our New Year's Eve.

During the holiday season, we hadn't been out to look at Christmas lights. Since tonight was the last night for many light displays, we made it a point to go to Johnson City, Texas, where Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) goes all out with their holiday lights. See what you think...

Pedernales Electric Cooperative light display, Johnson City, Texas

PEC grounds all lit up.

Looks like "Starry, Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh.

PEC grounds.

PEC building across street

PEC Christmas tree

PEC Building down the street

Johnson City park.

County Courthouse all decked out in lights

Johnson City park

What would a blog be without cats?

Pretty amazing, don't you think?

From Johnson City, we headed west to Fredericksburg, Texas, to see their light displays downtown. The Marktplatz was most impressive.

Marktplatz, Fredericksburg, TX

Marktplatz tree - 30' tall.

The following photo doesn't do the display justice. This Christmas Pyramid is five levels tall (26') and each level rotates with scenes pertaining to Christmas. Look at the people standing to the left to see how tall it is.

Christmas Pyramid made in Germany.

A view toward the Vereins Kirche.

Marktplatz

When we finished our drive around and through Fredericksburg, we headed to Random Event Center for our New Year's celebration. Well, that plus the fact Bob got called in to work as cashier/bartender.

Bob working the bar.

I had been feeling under the weather - scratchy throat, cough, runny nose - so I didn't feel like socializing for four hours. Thankfully, there was a warm back room where I could set up my computer and edit photos, play Scrabble with my Facebook friends, and catch up on email. I felt a bit anti-social, but I didn't want to spread cold germs.

The food truck at Random was The Cinnamon Rolls. For dinner, I had chicken tortilla soup (good for the cold) and a big salad. Bob brought me a small glass of Moscato wine. (It wasn't a very good Moscato, glad it was a small glass.)

Bob was happy, I was happy, and the revelers were having a good time. The night was very cold, but Random has outside fire bowls and firewood. A lot of people had roaring fires going. At 11:15 p.m. the owner, Bob's boss at the construction company where he's Controller, began firing up fireworks.

Moscato wine in Random's back room.

New Year's revelers inside Random's beer garden.

New Year's partiers outside by one of the fire bowls.

The Cinnamon Rolls food truck.

Believe it or not, out in the cold and dark, the kids were having a blast on the bouncer slide/obstacle course. And, no, that's not snow on the ground.

And the fireworks...

The most excitement had to be the two fires out in the field. Apparently boxes that the fireworks had been shot from were still hot at the finish. Everyone came back inside when people started yelling, "Fire!" The boxes, which were on a wooden trailer, caught the wood of the trailer on fire. Luckily, there were two good fire extinguishers which were put to use.

An eventful finish to 2013.

Time to ring in the New Year.

Pouring champagne

Happy New Year (Random revelers).

Mary snapping photos for Random's Facebook page.

Happy 2014!