Even though it's December, and Christmas is coming in just over 2 weeks, the average temperature here in ABQ has been in the 50s during the day for the past few weeks, leaves are still turning color and falling off trees, there's no snow and it's sunny and cloudless every day. However, that hasn't stopped the city (and UNM) from doing its best to set the proper holiday mood! Over the past week I had the chance to check out two annual holiday events that are pretty big around here, and to take lots of photos! First up, UNM's Hanging of the Greens.
This annual tradition was started years ago by students, who would gather greens from the Sandias and hang them around campus to set the holiday mood. The other big part was having a luminaria-lit procession through campus, singing Christmas carols, ending up at the University House (the university president's house) for biscochitos and hot chocolate. While the first half of the tradition has dwindled in recent years (nowadays student government members present a wreath to the president at the University House at the end of the procession), the luminaria part surely hasn't. For the entire day of the event, which started a bit after sundown, I saw people running around campus setting up elaborate luminaria designs absolutely everywhere. And these were real, candle-and-sand-in-a-paper-bad luminarias too, and I saw people making them throughout the whole day as well.
Note: I had a whole bunch of photos to show from the evening, but my phone ended up eating most of them. However, the ones that survived do a very good job of showing the scope of the Hanging of the Greens, including the luminaria designs (the first is an upside down lobo paw print, not sure what the second one is, and the last two are definitely zias)...
the huge crowd that came out for the event...
and just how nice the Duck Pond can look at night with luminarias all around.
Now, this alone was a pretty neat way to have things feel more like it's that special time of year, despite September-like temperatures and a complete lack of snow and grey skies that I've grown accustomed to back in New England.
However, it got even better!
A famous ABQ tradition is going to see the River of Lights, an elaborate outdoor stroll-through light show downtown, in the ABQ Botanical Gardens and Bio-Park. When I told my friend Mariana that I had never even heard of it before, that sealed the deal that we were going to go check it out before I left for Christmas break.
After a fierce contest for parking lot spaces (a holiday season tradition in itself), Mariana and I got our tickets and walked through the gates to begin our journey. We were greeted by penguins sitting atop an igloo...
as well as a field of blue and white trees.
Next, Mariana, who I acknowledged as the resident expert at what order to see everything in since she told me she had been to the River of Lights over 15 times in the past four years, directed us into a side courtyard which featured a blue light water fountain in the center, with blue light bushes all around and red lights on the lampposts...
which then opened up into another courtyard that featured a huge multicolored light plant display in the middle.
Proceeding from there, we walked underneath a huge trellis that, in warmer months, had some kind of flowery plant growing on it. However, tonight it was alight with colored holly plants and bells.
Walking further underneath the trellis, we came to a stage at the opposite end of it, which Mariana mentioned was a popular spot for weddings during the spring and summer. However, tonight there was a group performing Christmas carols there.
We took a left turn outside and back into the main area of the Bio-Park, They had a variety of light sculptures along the path, including a teddy bear cowboy on a rocking horse...
more blue trees (and yes that is a humpback whale on the left, I'll get to that)...
dazzling purple lights on a smaller trellis (Mariana's favorite color, you can see her snapping a quick photo there)...
and a brightly-colored light-plant display that seemed very 60s to me in both its design and color scheme.
Next, we found ourselves near the greenhouses, which had hummingbirds and honey bees outside, with lights switching on and off that made it look like they were flying.
We then headed indoors, to a tropical greenhouse that had perfect June-in-New England humidity (I had almost forgotten what wet air felt like!). The ground floor was covered in poinsettias...
but the upper levels held more exotic looking ferns.
Next we crossed back into aridness in an adjoining greenhouse, which had an incredible variety of cacti all around, including the very Arizonan saguaro.
Heading back outside into the cold, I of course had to get a picture of a light cactus.
Next we walked along a path lined with more blue and purple bushes, and then came to a farm-themed portion of the walk, the highlight of which was a giant light tractor.
Continuing through, a River of Lights sign greeted us...
and then we arrived at the Botanical Gardens lake, across from the greenhouses. I loved how the lights looked, reflecting on the water, and I thought it was pretty neat that they had thought to include a "yellow submarine" in their setup!
And then, without any explanation, there was a light T-Rex on the bank next to us...
which also perplexed Mariana so much that she had to stop and get a photo of it too.
Leaving the dinosaur behind, we then came to a huge model train set up, with spiral light Christmas trees, real decorated trees, ornaments, a full model village, bridges...
and of course, two trains working their way through it all, dutifully carrying on with their routes despite it being most certainly after normal business hours.
Taking a left after this, we came to a covered stage where there was a choir performing Christmas carols. We stopped to take a moment to listen to "Silent Night" before moving on
Now, remember how I mentioned that the humpback whale would come back into the picture? Well, we turned around, and there it was!
There was also some fish swimming through some kelp nearby...
as well as a giant manta ray...
and some fish floating around a bunch of coral and anemones.
Walking through the ocean section (so present because they have an aquarium there too on the grounds), we soon came to some less natural designs, including an antique car...
and an old-fashioned biplane.
Next came one of my favorite parts. There was a giant 20-foot tall "Christmas tree" with colored light tubes that pulsed in time to music being played. TSO was the choice, appropriately enough, and I took a bunch of photos of the lights changing during their version of "Carol of the Bells".
After enjoying the performance, Mariana showed me her favorite part of the River of Lights (and, in fact, the Botanical Gardens in general). It was a children's section, where everything was made giant to look like you had been shrunk down to the size of an ant. We first walked through a cavern with neon "roots" hanging from the ceiling.
This then emptied us out into a big courtyard, with a big musical note mural on one side...
as well as some trees dressed up in what looked to be Christmas sweaters of their own.
Following the path again, we walked upwards through a roomful of giant carrots (and colored light rabbits!) to a large bamboo grove with colored lights strung up all over.
After passing through there, we came to a slide inside a giant log, which we both took as our preferred way of getting back down to the main level, instead of the stairs nearby...
and were met by a flying horse as we proceeded to the end of the River of Lights.
Mariana assured me that it wasn't all over yet though, and there was one last display of lights in the form of giant Christmas trees with candy canes and presents underneath them as we walked back out to the parking lot.
I have to admit, while I did enjoy both of these holiday events, my favorite of them was the River of Lights. It was such a fun last thing to do before heading off to take finals and ultimately flying home for break. And I'm sure all of you will enjoy looking at these photos again and again to help put you in the holiday spirit!
