When the holidays start, many places start their decorating. One place that truly brings the Christmas spirit is St, Augustine, FL. Visiting St. Augustine for their Night of Lights was something that I had been wanting to do since I found out about it my first Christmas in Florida in 2016. I have always heard about how amazing and magical it was and couldn’t wait to experience it myself.
Since I had learned about the Night of Lights I had visited during other times of the year and felt the history behind the town itself and fell in love the first time I was able to walk around the little town. When I was finally able to make it to St. Augustine this year for their 26th year of their Night of Lights, I was ecstatic.
Walking around town before the sun went down trying to spot where all the Christmas lights were, and I was surprised at how well hidden they were around the museum. Then walking through the park where they put up the Christmas tree, I felt a twinge of excitement as I see stringing lights hanging from the trees and the big Christmas tree all decked out. Excited to see how it was going to be transformed into a magical Christmas town.
According to St. Augustine’s website, the Night of Lights represent the Spanish tradition of leaving a candle in the window representing when Mary and Joseph were looking for an Inn, the candles representing the room they have in their hearts and homes for Jesus.
When the sun finally went down and I got to walk around and experience the Night of Lights I was not disappointed. I walked into the courtyard of the museum and was in awe of how from the bushes to the tops of the buildings were decorated in the white Christmas lights.
When coming up to the Plaza De La Constitucion it was easy to see that this was where all the excitement was centered around. Not only were there massive amounts of lights hanging from all the trees in the park but there were also trollies and horse drawn carriages.
To top it off there was a cute little open car with The Grinch driving families around in full character. He even got out and posed for me and hit Jim Carey’s Grinch right on the head. Along with The Grinch there was a decked-out Santa giving horse drawn sleigh rides and the trollies filled with people were so festive and going around the town singing Christmas carols as well as live music and little stands giving you the opportunity to buy local artwork.
When walking from the park out to the water, you get to the walkway along the water and look back at the town and see all the buildings along the road fully lit up with lights and decorated to a T. Being in St. Augustine seeing all of this, there isn’t anything that could stop you from truly feeling the Christmas spirit.