It's that time of year...

The Trail of Lights in Zilker Park is back!

This is my favorite time of year because I get to go back to my childhood days. Walking up and down those trails at Zilker with millions of Christmas lights twinkling all around me makes me feel like I'm in my own version of a real-life Candy Land. Glittering lights, hot chocolate, candy canes and Christmas carolers always put me in the Christmas spirit.

Dell always puts on a spectucular display, which is the main event I look forward to every year, aside from eating too much kettle corn and spinning around under the Big Tree at the trail's end until I nearly puke.

I'm intrigued to know what goes on behind the scenes setting this monster up. I've never seen it going up, oddly enough, but something this big has got to take a lot of man hours. Hmm... maybe next year I can get a sneak peek.

This year, a bunch of my girlfriends and I are planning on going to the Trail together in honor of our good friend, Megan. She was always a huge fan of this spectacle at Christmas, but very sadly, she passed away this past August. On December 17th, we will gather under the Big Tree and toast our hot chocolate to our friend. She wouldn't want it any other way.