Driving through Hollister’s brightly lit neighborhoods creates
fun evenings and lasting holiday memories
It’s funny how family traditions get started.
About 10 years ago, I was leafing through a
”
Woman’s Day
”
magazine while sitting in my doctor’s waiting room. One of the
articles which caught my attention was how to find ways to spend
time with your family during the Christmas season. One suggestion
seemed like a good one
– driving around and looking at all of the decorated homes in
the neighborhood.
Driving through Hollister’s brightly lit neighborhoods creates fun evenings and lasting holiday memories
It’s funny how family traditions get started.
About 10 years ago, I was leafing through a “Woman’s Day” magazine while sitting in my doctor’s waiting room. One of the articles which caught my attention was how to find ways to spend time with your family during the Christmas season. One suggestion seemed like a good one – driving around and looking at all of the decorated homes in the neighborhood.
Loading up the car with hot chocolate, CDs of Christmas music and the kids has become a yearly tradition for my family, one that brings plenty of laughter and smiles. And based on the number of cars we pass while cruising Severinsen Street, we aren’t the only ones who enjoy getting out and looking at Christmas lights.
There are plenty of neighborhoods in Hollister which will elicit oohs and ahhs from a car’s passengers. A good place to start are the neighborhoods in Quail Hollow and Oak Ridge, just off Enterprise Road. At least half of the homes in this particular subdivision are brightly lit, and many have the large blow-up snowmen or snow globes that have become popular over the last few years – one home even has a large Christmas train in the front yard.
After leaving Quail Hollow, turn left onto Airline Hwy. then make a right turn on Union Road. There are several subdivisions in this area, going up to Cerra Vista School and down various streets in the neighborhoods near Clearview Drive. There are guaranteed to be quite a few decorated homes in this section of town. Sunnyslope Village, near Klauer Park, is also a good place to find Christmas lights, as is the tiny subdivision along Holiday Drive, on the other side of Sunnyslope Village. Another neighborhood which traditionally gets into the holiday spirit is La Baig Estates, located off of Meridian Street just past Save Mart Supermarkets.
A fun neighborhood to visit this year is out in Tres Pinos – folks there have really caught the decorating fever. There aren’t a lot of homes in downtown Tres Pinos, but the majority of them are alight with strand after strand of Christmas bulbs. Take Airline Hwy. just past Southside Road, turn left and head to F Street, where just about every home on the street is decorated.
Severinsen Street, and the streets surrounding it, is probably the most popular street on Hollister’s unofficial Holiday Lights Tour. More than 30 homes on Severinsen hold a friendly decorating competition, which makes for an illuminating treat for the hundreds of visitors to the neighborhood each Christmas. From about 6 p.m. to well after 9 p.m., cars drive slowly down the street, staring at lights, life-sized Nativity scenes and plastic figurines of Santa and his reindeer. Better yet, park the car (if possible) and get out and walk. It’s a great way to spend a little quality time with the family and create a few holiday memories.
