One of my all time favorite movies is “Christmas Vacation.” It is one of those movies that really gets people into the holiday spirit. We can all relate to some aspects of the movie, which is why it’s so great. In my opinion, the best part of the movie is when, after hours and hours of risking his life putting lights out on his house, Clark Griswold finally enjoyed his masterpiece – the only problem was that his light show blinded the neighbors and caused power outages; luckily Clark Griswold does not live in Vernon Hills.

We went to see the outdoor Winter Wonderland Holiday Light Show (located in Vernon Hills), and I was immediately reminded of “Christmas Vacation” because of the amount of lights. The lights are set-up on the property of the Cuneo Museum. You get to stay in your car which is nice. We drove through the property looking at hundreds of light designs and decorations, we had such a fun time looking at all the lights and Disney characters. Reese especially loved any of the lights that moved, such as the rocking horse and the Ferris wheel.
I really liked the 12 Days of Christmas part. As you drive through the show, little by little you see each day lit up with an image of that days part (i.e. 5 Golden Rings, etc.). We also enjoyed looking for and counting the snow men. At the beginning of the show, there is a sign that challenges you to count how many snowmen you see throughout the ride. The answer is at the end of the show and needless to say, we were wrong – we must have missed some along the way!

The drive through the light show was surprisingly a lot longer than we thought it would be, we assumed it would be nothing more than a 5 minute drive through. This is something we plan to make a tradition each year before Christmas. As we exited the light show, I thought back to “The Griswold’s Christmas Vacation” and realized that the lights at this show put their house to shame!

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