One of my absolute favorite times of the year (probably for most others too) is Christmas time.  In fact, being the only holiday that starts to build about a month before the actual day arrives, it helps to get into the spirit of Christmas that much more (I remember as a younger kid sifting through the Thanksgiving day paper for all the black Friday deals, signifying the Christmas season had officially begun).  Now days, what signifies Christmas almost being here for me, are when the decorations go up.  Living in Charlotte the past 4 years, I must say the city planners do a great job bringing the city to life with the Christmas spirit[1].  Sure, it is no New York, but there is definitely a lot of time and effort put into making the streets of Uptown Charlotte glow for all those that live there or come to visit to be proud of. 

Prior to this year, I am ashamed to say that in my years of living/working in Uptown Charlotte, I had yet to actually go out and get pictures of the city with the Christmas decorations up.  I don’t know whether it was the short days[2], or the cold weather, but I always seemed to put off going out and taking pictures until eventually the decorations were all taken down.  This year was different though, I swore that no matter what I was going to take some pictures, and so this past Saturday night I went out and finally got some shots of Uptown Charlotte at Christmas time...just in time before the end of 2012.

-BR