My Riverside Christmas – Highlander

41 Every year, usually the day after Thanksgiving, Riverside comes alive with holiday spirit, its downtown lit up with millions of strung lights and Christmas regalia. From the week after Thanksgiving to about a week after the new year, downtown Riverside becomes one of the largest lighting displays in California with the Mission Inn at the center. Since 1993, this event has brought together the community to celebrate Christmas amidst the city’s most well-known historical site. For many in Riverside, the Festival of Lights lighting ceremony is the start of the Christmas season, a huge holiday party that brings together so many of the city’s families. As a lifetime Riverside resident, I have never known a white Christmas. I have never truly associated a change in weather with the beginning of the holiday season; rather, for as long as I can remember, this Festival of Lights has been the keystone of Christmas in my family’s traditions. Since I was born 21 years ago, despite a move away from Riverside, we have attended this lighting ceremony. It has always provided me with a measure of time, feeling so rare and limited but never failing to come back year after year. When
Read More