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Garden of Lights

You can't have a holiday without lights, blinking, winking, colored lights, the more the better. If it's illumination you seek, there's only one choice -- over half a million points of light.

It's the Garden Fest of Lights Grand Illumination at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden this Friday evening. Don't be fooled though, there is more to see and do than wandering among lighted shrubbery.

In the outdoor gardens you can walk transfixed among flamboyant peacocks, luminous ten-foot dragonflies and larger-than-life butterflies. In the conservatory, there is a large Christmas conifer resplendent with lights and decorations standing majestically over model trains making their way through holiday tableau.

There is a special children's garden, where kids can do creative re-enactments of The Shining by wandering through mazes, only without Jack Nicholson and his axe. There will also be firepit by which to warm small bones. And in the library you can see a collection of dollhouses on loan from private collections.

The River City Burners will be there too. Hopefully they will not actually burn anything, but they will leave you stunned and amazed with their fire skills. You may have seen them performing at Gallery 5 during a First Friday event.

So there is plenty to do for the entire family. Things get started Friday at 5 p.m. You must have tickets to attend Garden Fest of Lights -- you can check here for all the details on time and tickets.