lights

A Tinley Park family's famous Christmas light display is back and features over 200,000 lights while raising money for a local non-profit.

If you thought it was impossible for Anderson Japanese Gardens to be more beautiful, think again. The gardens will be magically transformed for the holidays.

Depending on your age, it might seem like night games have always been a thing at Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs--or, you vividly remember the time when there were absolutely no lights, right up to their installation in 1988.

As a kid, I remember asking my dad why he pulled the plug on our Christmas lights at around 9:00 each evening. He said something that came right out of the typical Midwestern dad phrasebook: "What? Am I made of money? Do you know what it costs to run these lights? Do You?"

Fans of 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation' are flocking to one holiday light display in Cortland, Illinois to see Cousin Eddie in all his bathrobe glory.

Let's see if I have this straight. LED (stands for light-emitting diode) lights are 50% more energy efficient than sodium vapor lights, they last 15-20 years instead of 2-5 years, and they spread their illumination far more evenly than standard streetlights.

Rockford's Nicholas Conservatory and Gardens has (once again this year) provided a much-needed antidote to our current locked-down, stay at home mentality with another stunning lights display.

If you think you've got to take a road trip into the burbs to catch a high-tech, light-synced Christmas light display, Rockford's Andrew Plett is going to save you some gas money.

It's all fun until January, when your electric bill is dropped off by a forklift truck.

Warning: the image above does not contain any Star Wars references. Younger and more sensitive viewers may find this disturbing. In case you were unaware, the latest Star Wars movie, "The Force Awakens," opens this Friday. I've got no problem admitting to being a fan, and that I'm really looking forward to seeing it...