When it comes to Christmas lights, the most notorious street in all of Bismarck-Mandan has got to be Northview Lane, which snakes up a steep hill from Divide Avenue to the corner of Boulevard and 26th Street. Every year the neighborhood residents decorate their homes, but most notable is that the boulevard trees are lit in a similar fashion. The house on the left of this photo has a Christmas light menagerie in the front yard. A home that was behind me when I took this picture does a nice blue-and-purple sort of thing. But all the boulevard trees match, all the way up the hill. It’s really fun.

For some reason, people in Bismarck-Mandan need very little excuse to drive around and look at other peoples’ houses. A friend of mine who lived in a very luxurious home in a south Bismarck neighborhood spoke of these people with great disdain, as he felt as if he was some sort of exhibit while out washing his cars or working in the yard. Go to any well-to-do neighborhood and you’ll find them, gapers toodling along at 10-15 miles per hour, apparently living vicariously through those whose houses are gape-worthy.

Northview Lane is normally not such a neighborhood, but they certainly get the attention for the last few weeks out of each year. Once these lights go up, traffic is almost non-stop. In fact, it was pretty annoying for me to try to take a picture of it! I decided to set my shutter speed at a full thirty seconds long, causing the headlights and taillights of the cars to show up as streaks in the picture, but erasing the cars themselves.

My favorite time of the year is driving around during the Christmas season, Charlie Brown Christmas music playing in the truck’s minidisc player, with my wife by my side. She and the new baby were having a special evening at a friend’s house tonight, so little PJ and I took the trip ourselves. He dozed off halfway down Northview, so it was just me and the camera after that. If time allows, I’ll try to photograph my favorite Christmas displays this year. It’ll help me brush up on my night photography skills and share the Christmas spirit as well. Stay tuned!