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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Christmas lights are bigger in Texas

A Christmas light display is shown on the exterior of a home in the Highland Park Neighborhood on Sunday in Dallas.  (Sam Hodde/For the Washington Post)
By Sam Hodde For the Washington Post

HIGHLAND PARK, Texas – If you want to see the biggest and brightest Christmas lights in town, head for the most exclusive neighborhood. In Dallas, that’s around this incorporated town of less than 9,000 people where average home prices are in the millions.

In this expensive enclave – and nearby Preston Hollow and University Park – neighbors outdo one another with fleets of reindeer, armies of Santas and inflatables to reaching for the roofs of their Spanish mansions. Highland Park Village, a historic shopping center with every luxury vendor from Alexander McQueen to Zegna, has put on an annual display since 1951 that now electrifies 1.5 million lights. It’s become so popular the district keeps them on into February.