Edmonds Kind of Play: Holiday light shows, winter break activities

It only took until Wednesday morning of this holiday break for me to fully accept the clear and well-precedented reality that the kids and I share different views of what a “break” is. Mine involves them making their own breakfast; coincidentally, this is also how I define “summer.” Theirs involves relentlessly asking for things covered in chocolate, playdates, and if any newly delivered package is for them. There are just enough shame-y articles each year about how great it is for kids to be bored and how I’m ruining them for one reason or, well, every reason, to make me start these breaks with a ridiculous view of how it should go.

While at the library early in the week, I picked up the flyer with all the cool science-y programs Sno-Isle is offering, lots during the holiday break. I grabbed the pamphlet and wished that all the options for next week were neatly listed instead of what normally works — the list of events listed by library. Well after a trip home, listening to the audiobook version of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” an executive decision of ‘you can make your own breakfast for dinner,’ and some Facebook clicking, I noticed that My Edmonds News has made an early Christmas wish come true. The Imagine Children’s Museum is providing programs for school-age children at 19 community libraries, including four nearby, from Dec. 19-30. You can find the programs, locations, and dates by clicking the great My Edmonds News roundup HERE!

After loading up the ol’ mini-van with guests from a yearly holiday dinner, we headed to what I now know is the “Mountlake Terrace Christmas Light Display,” 4000 – 4200 block of 227th Place Southwest. I only know that because when I searched it on MLTNews.com, a part of the My Neighborhood News Network, I found the appropriate name. Had I searched it before hand, I would have known MLT has another spot for lights on the way home, 6200 – 6400 block of 227th Street Southwest off 66th Avenue West. Since that is more of a schlep than I’d prefer after being super full of things that are only on the menu once a year, I was happy to find another display much closer by, again in a Facebook post by My Edmonds News.

Reader Diane Richards offered up her Meadowdale neighborhood in Lynnwood, 5402 173rd Pl. S.W., as an option for those looking for lights. My kids really enjoyed this trip and it featured lots of different house displays on the way, including some really tall lights across from St. Thomas More Parish in Lynnwood. The light display on 173rd is “over 30,00 lights” with Peanuts characters, a twinkly Eiffel Tower, a digital Santa countdown to Christmas and warm drinks and candy canes offered on Christmas Eve. The video on My Edmonds News gives a great idea of what’s offered, but it really takes driving on the street in both directions to get the full extent of the display.

After a playdate and before a trip to the library, I wanted to see the “Once Upon a Toy” exhibit at the Edmonds Historical Museum, 118th 5th Ave. N., also an exhibit I read about on My Edmonds News. I hadn’t checked the hours, but thankfully the boys and I arrived during museum hours, between 1 and 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday during the holiday week. The toy exhibit is on the top floor and had everything from a Cabbage Patch Kids circa ‘83 to vintage ice skates that strap to your shoes. After perusing the whole floor and with one foot out the door, the polite and friendly volunteer at the front desk asked if we were going downstairs. Downstairs?!? While I have been to the museum before — during a My Edmonds News Meeting actually, I had no idea there was a downstairs! As if pushing buttons on an elevator wasn’t fun enough, we saw the old Edmonds Jail, read about the high school-turned-Edmonds Center for the Arts, and touched some ferry steering wheels. The museum has partnered with Clothes For Kids and is continuing to accept donations of clothing and apparel for children of local families in need. New, packaged warm socks and underwear are particularly needed.

I’ve loved My Edmonds News since just after its inception in 2009 when I answered a call to send in pictures of your kids with Santa. I sent in our picture, our first with two kids, with Alderwood Mall Santa who now only works the afternoon shift. I’ve followed them ever since, which is pretty much the only reason I can recognize the Mayor. While getting local news is important, maybe more than ever, the “what-to-do” has been important to us as an instrumental part of feeling connected to our adopted hometown. Even though I have been lucky enough to be a part of the “what-to-do” portion of My Edmonds News since the summer of 2013, this week proved that I still use the site the same way I did before I was involved.

— By Jennifer Marx

Jen Marx

Jen Marx, an Edmonds mom of two young boys, is always looking for a fun place to take the kids that makes them tired enough to go to bed on time. You can find her on Twitter trying to make sense of begging kids to ” just eat the mac n cheese” @jen_marx.

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