Monday, December 1, 2008

Rudolph Hunting

We began this almost nightly "hunt" a couple of years ago. Mike was in Brazil the first week or two of December and we needed something to fill in our evenings and something that was kind of special and different. Well, I took Paige and baby Jonah to a couple of nice neighborhoods and drove around admiring the lights with them. A while into our drive, Paige kept asking, "Where's Rudolph? Mommy, I want to see Rudolph!" I drove for over an hour that night, searching for that red-nosed reindeer without any luck. The next night, I had a brilliant idea. We would search for Rudolph in the mobile home parks by our house. Maybe they'd have old Rudolph decorations, not just those big air-filled snowmen or snowglobes. Well, it turned out that I was a genius. There were lots of Rudolphs there. There are also a few Rudolphs in at the houses in our area, but we have yet to see any in the higher-income (or is that higher-debt) houses.
So, almost every night between Thanksgiving and New Years for the last few years, we have driven around the neighborhood finding Rudolphs and each time we sing "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer". The most we ever saw in one night was 13. Last night we saw 5! For the beginning of Rudolph season that was a great number. And most of those were new Rudolphs! Hopefully more Rudolphs get put up today! And hopefully their owners will remember to turn them on. It only counts when you can see a red nose!

6 comments:

Three Girls with a Mom said...

What a great tradition. Although I imagine singing the song might get a little tiring after seeing so many. Do you take the same route each night?

Mike said...

Last night one guy was still outside putting up his lights when we drove by. His Rudolph was already lit up so I turned around so the kids could see it. Then I had to turn around again to get back on the route. The third time by Julie rolled the window down basically let the guy know we weren't stocking his house. She said "We're Rudolph Hunting." Should have seen the look on his face, I don't think he understood at all what she meant, nor would I have expected him too. It was quite funny.

fiona said...

That is a great idea!! How fun! One of those traditions that I bet will definitely be passed on. There's not much yard decorating here. As in, none. Too bad we don't have all that stuff, I bet we'd get lots of gawkers! And I like the "higher-debt" comment, heehee :)

It's really a shame y'all weren't wearing your matching camos when Julie told that guy you were Rudolph hunting!

Anonymous said...

I remember when Mike, as a young boy, thought he saw Rudolph out his bedroom window.

Julie said...

Yep Christi,
It can become a little tiring to keep singing the same song over and over. I remember Jonah saying "Sing Mommy! Sing Mommy!" when I tried to slack off last year... We do pretty much the same route each night, but tonight we did a different route because we just haven't been seeing enough Rudolph's in our neighborhood. We saw 6 tonight! Well, we saw 5 plus the one Mike bought tonight and put in Jack's window. The kiddos were so surprised!

zachariah said...

That's a great tradition!! We are lucky if we see Christmas lights up here... let alone a Rudolph. But we make up by decorating lots inside the house and watching the old claymation movies.