lighting it up in hamden.

I am pretty sure that every year since we've gotten married, if not every year since we've been together, Andrew and I have always gone to Hampden to see the famous lights of 34th Street. For my non-Baltimorean readers, 34th Street is this magical little street in the Baltimore neighborhood of Hampden that goes completely over the top with their Christmas lights. Every row home on the entire street is covered in lights and Christmas decorations. There are food and hot chocolate vendors. There are throngs of people there every single night who walk and drive down the street to see the holiday lights. It has come to be one of the events we do every year that feels the most Christmasy.

In recent years, we have extended our tradition to include a walk to Hometown Girl, one of my favorite little shops in Hampden, to purchase a new Christmas tree ornament. This little store sells the most beautiful, glittery, shiny, handmade blown glass ornaments in very "Baltimore" designs. In the past, I've purchased a pink flamingo in a Santa costume, and a blue crab. This year, I found a beautiful crab ornament, decorated with red glitter - very Baltimore. We also added another "Balitmore" treat to our Hampden tradition this year - buying Berger Cookies and eating them the drive home - yum!



This was Bennet's first trip to see the lights (he was in my tummy last year, but he probably didn't have a good view from there) and he loved them. He's at such a young age that he doesn't really "get" many Christmas activities, but anything involving bright, glaring lights, he loves. Just like everything else we've done this Christmas season, seeing the Hamden lights was more fun, more Christmasy, more special with our sweet, little boy with us. All of our friends with children told us that this will be one of the most special, fun Christmases we'd have together, and they are definitely right!




The least fabulous part of the night happened when I was climbing the stairs of one of the row homes on 34th street to show Bennet a home's decorations, and I fell with him in my arms. Of course, my mommy instinct kicked in, and all of my efforts went into keeping him protected, not into saving myself from a bad fall. Bennet is perfectly fine, didn't hit the pavment at all. I, on the other hand, have a skinned up elbow and an enormous knot and terrible bruise on my knee. I feel like a five-year-old with all of my scrapes and bumps. I'm just thankful it was me that got hurt and not Monkey.




All in all, we had a great time in Hampden seeing the amazing lights of 34th Street. If you're in the area and you haven't been yet - you should check it out! It's hard not to get in the Christmas spirit when you're surrounded by such a gaudy display of glorious lights!