Kent: Time once again to name best Christmas lights in Houston County

After all these years, I am not really sure how it started but about 10 years ago, I started picking the best lights in Houston County.

It has never been me by myself. One of our family's favorite traditions is riding around looking at Christmas lights, which is sort of weird since we don't put up a lot of lights ourselves. At some point, I guess I put together the first list, around 2005, with input from husband and my sons Ronnie and Scotty. Scotty even wrote the list one year; I still have it in a little notebook where he carefully numbers the pages 1-10 and wrote the addresses down. As they have gotten older, the girls that they have invited along have helped to make the list.

Every year when Christmas rolls around, I think about skipping the list and then someone will stop me in a store or email me and ask when the list is coming out. So I gather up a crowd in my SUV and head out to pick the best lights.

As I prepare to do this every year, I admit I get a little sad. Some of my favorite lights are gone. I have lived in Warner Robins since I was a teenager, so I remember the Lightman off of Houston Lake Road, the luminaries in Leisure World, the Smurf's manger scene over in Shirley Hills and the yard on Cherokee that my Warner Robins-born husband swears was the first big display in town. It even had a rotating Christmas tree. When the boys were little, we used to ride by a house on Arrowhead where Santa was out front giving out candy canes and matchbox cars, but it is gone as well.

But for every house that has disappeared, we discover a new favorite every year. I have said before -- and I will say it again -- the real winners aren't the homes that are decorated, but the people who are driving by and get to see the lights. We are fans of the gaudy, over-the-top lights but also admire the simpler displays because in my opinion, if you put out lights at all, you are part of the greatest lights in Houston County.

So if you have great lights, or any lights at all, that you want us to consider, just give me a call or send me an email. We will be out and about in the next few nights looking for the top 10 lights. There is one house in particular I am anxious to see since Ronnie told me that the family had a separate meter put on their house for their Christmas lights.

In the meantime, I want to give a shout out to our incredible Warner Robins Fire Department who puts up the beautiful decorations on Watson Blvd every year. I was at Chick-fil-A the other day and saw the fire truck on Watson and I have to admit, the child in me got a little excited. The lights are up on Watson, so Christmas is on its way.

Alline Kent can be reached at allinekent@cox.net or 396-2467.

This story was originally published December 8, 2015 at 10:40 PM with the headline "Kent: Time once again to name best Christmas lights in Houston County ."