During the holiday season, there are a few key moments that really stick in your memory.

Of course there is the big meal where everyone is eating together, at one or more tables. You’re telling stories, grabbing seconds, and spending time with the people who have loved and cared for you for your entire life.

Then of course there is Christmas morning, when the first sounds are the excited screams and giggles of the children as they wait impatiently for it to be time to  open the gifts they can see beneath the lighted Christmas tree.

Screenshot of a People Magazine story on the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

There is, of course, the wonderfully decorated Christmas home of your grandmother, of whoever hosts this year’s get-together. Between the bright lights of the Christmas tree, the soft Christmas music wafting from a radio hidden out of sight, or the tinsel and candles that festoon every available surface, the house is transformed and magical.

And finally, there is the magical evening you go out to see Christmas lights.

In the car for Christmas lights

On this special night, you all crowd into the car together. Perhaps you are on the lap of a favorite aunt, or snuggled securely in a blanket between your cousins.

Somehow, magically, your dad knows where to go to show you all the most enchanting lights.

Perhaps it is a winding path through a few of the town’s richest and most outrageously bedecked neighborhoods.

And definitely it includes passing by that one house in town that has their Christmas lights and decorations up all year round, and yet they still seem to have extra shine and fanfare during the Christmas season.

But on this most magical evening, the car drives to Land of Illusion’s Christmas Glow.

Land of Illusion Christmas Glow

Here you find a magical land with something enchanting to see everywhere you look. There are lighted trees that rival the one at the Rockefeller Tower in New York City that you have only seen on tv.

There are scrims with images from your favorite Christmas movies and Christmas memories, scenes that make you laugh and make your cry with their poignance.

Everywhere you see memories. These lights remind you of your childhood, and these remind you of that one time … well, you remember the time.

Wrapped gifts, warm cider and a family together at Christmas all help complete the miracle of another Christmas together as a family.