Caramillo Street at Christmastime

Caramillo Streeet, just a few blocks from my studio and around the corner from my brother's house, is a very typical downtown residential street in Colorado Springs: it's lined with Victorians, Crafstman homes and giant trees. But during the holidays something magical happens on Caramillo between Weber and Wahsatch streets. All the residents collaborate to drape the entire block with Christmas lights strung back and forth across the tree branches, and almost every home is cheerily festooned with holiday decor. The effect, as you drive underneath the fairy lights at night in the snow, is pure magic. For years I've meant to bring a "real" camera and capture the beauty of Caramillo Street at Chrismastime, but usually I'm just too swamped with work to plan on an official photo foray. The other night Pat and I happened to be nearby as it was snowing, so we made a special point to drive down Caramillo and capture it with my little point and shoot. This photo simply doesn't do it justice, but I promise next year I'll try and get a truly fabulous one!

I also wanted to share with you this video that I shot with my brother Chuck last week. There's a house in his old neighborhood that really comes alive at Christmas. The owners must have spent years putting together all this stuff, and clearly none of it's storebought, so a lot of labor went into this! It's absolutely delightful and we never tire of driving through their alleyway every year to see the wonderful display they put on. BTW that's Annie Lennox on the radio, and Chuck drove very slowly so I could capture as much as possible. Enjoy!