Over Thanksgiving weekend, I went home to my hometown of San Gabriel, CA (about 10 miles east of Los Angeles) and I drove by the neighboring city of San Marino (famous for the house in the Father of the Bride movies... and über-rich people). I always hate driving by San Marino at night because the city is usually almost pitch-black, due to the lack of street lights (which is bizarre considering how wealthy they are, but that's another topic for another blog). Having that said, it is always exciting during the holiday season because all the Christmas lights dangling from the gutters of their faux-antebellum mansions and huge lawn trees really pop out amidst the darkness. These Christmas lights definitely help me get into the holiday spirit.