It’s the most wonderful time of the year—unless you’re doing all the cooking, dealing with the in-laws, and Christmas present melt-downs with the kids that is...

So here’s a soothing plan! Get out of the house! Breathe in the holiday spirit! And take in some soul-warming Christmas light displays (more of that in a moment).

But first in this Virtually Rick—some astounding stuff about those twinkly lights themselves.

So who’s fault is it? You can blame Edison for inventing them, yes, but really it was President Grover Cleveland who put electric lights on his family tree in 1895 and then EVERYBODY wanted a piece of the action.

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Although back then they were blimming expensive for a family—thousands of dollars per tree in today’s coin.

Those delightful blinking Christmas lights we all know and love? They were first introduced in the 20s, so great granny knows all about ‘em AND about that famous Rockefeller tree in New York that’s been decorated since the 30s.

To date it has around 50,000 LED lights on it. Phew! Because changing bulbs on that sucker must have been a pain.

Back in the 50s when a bulb went out, of the many thousands there were on the National Christmas Tree in Washington, DC, Earl Hargrove had to climb a ladder and replace each bulb individually and he did all that dressed as Santa. Ho! Ho! Arghh!!

But the first and longest-running outdoor display is claimed by locals to us here in Altadena, who believe their display on Christmas Tree Lane has been running non-stop since the 1920’s (well actually it did stop for WWII) but that’s pretty impressive...

Which is what the Gay family’s electricity bill must be in LaGrangeville, New York when they set the Guinness World Record for stringing up 601,736 lights around their home. I hope they took them down because in San Diego, if Christmas lights are kept up past February 2, you might be fined $250.

If that’s the case then with that many lights, the Gay family probably have to start taking them down in June before they even put em up!

Christmas lights are here to stay and there’s certainly something about them that brings out the little kid in all of us. Now, as promised, here are some of the best places to see incredible displays this season: 

  • The Enchanted Forest of lights, La Cañada Flintridge
  • Christmas Tree Lane, Altadena
  • The Venice Canals
  • Beverly Hills
  • Candy Cane Lane in Woodland Hills
  • The LA Zoo
  • And of course, Disneyland 

Merry Christmas!