By RIC McGINNIS

News Correspondent

As Christmas was approaching this past week, neighborhoods around town showed off their decorations that came to life each night.

In some areas, adjacent homes created a large pool of light, adding to the bright white street lights scattered about city streets. For those who drove around town on Christmas Eve, there were hardly any areas that didn’t have some Christmas illumination.

Some homes featured strings and strings of lights, others, lighted signs, still others, lighted figures, many comedic or religious. Some home decorations even featured music broadcast on a special FM radio frequency, with synchronized lights changing to the beat, all controlled by a computer program.

This week, however, as the New Year approaches, yard and house decorations will be slowly put away, to live in boxes on shelves in their garages until needed for another Christmas celebration.

This year, in addition to the wide variety of Christmas decorations that were seen throughout neighborhoods in Riverbank, an additional event shown down on citizens across the Western Hemisphere.

A Christmas Night full moon graced the skies above Riverbank, thanks to cool, clear skies.

The last time the moon was full on Christmas Night was in 1977, when movie goers were lining up to see the original episode of the movie Star Wars. The next opportunity for a holiday night full moon, officials said, won’t come until 2034.

The moonlight combined with street lights and home and yard holiday decorations to make Christmas Week a cheery one for those traveling about.