Warming Up Before a Trip to the Lights Fantastic

Fountain Valley ups the Santa ante when it comes to Christmas displays. Wear walking shoes and gawk till you drop.

5:30 to 6 p.m.: But first get in a little Christmas shopping. You can pick up children’s gifts both unusual and enriching at Lakeshore Learning Store (inside it’s called Lakeshore Learning Materials). Leave the young ‘uns to play with a bin of toys and hop-along balls while you shop.

The children’s books section offers what appears to be Cliffs Notes Jr.: “Literature Notes” are available for such classics as “Curious George” and for “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” In the Active Play! department, there’s a stable with horses you’ll never have to shoot: “Just bend the legs to the correct position and hold for a minute or so. Presto! Your horse is all better,” read the instructions.

Nearby are Block Play People With Differing Abilities, a set of four wooden figures representing different ethnicities and both sexes, one in a wheelchair, one on forearm crutches, one with leg braces and one who is blind. Kids who like to role-play will like police, fire chief and postal carrier costumes. In the arts and crafts department are bags of multicolored macaroni, and there are also language, mathematics and science sections.

Musical instruments range from a nose flute, great for parties, for $1.49, to the West African balaphon, the original xylophone, for $49.50. A jingle clog is a cymbal-on-a-stick; you can stroke or strike a guiro tone block. The Chilean rain stick actually sounds as if it’s raining!

6 to 7: Depending on your tolerance for heat, you can order dishes at Rim Jhim Indian Cuisine medium or, the menu assures, “ ‘killer’ if you feel like sweating it out.” But dishes are otherwise prepared mild. Spice-marinated tikka dishes such as boneless, skinless chicken ($9) and fat-trimmed leg of lamb ($10) seemed bland enough for kids; appetizers include onion bhajee, which are fried onion balls with cilantro, chilies and graham flour ($3.95). Indian beers include Flying Horse from Bangalore ($4.95) and Taj Mahal from Calcutta (large, $4.95; small, $3.25). Arched mirrors and doorways lend the otherwise square room a very subtle Indian atmosphere.

7 to 8:30: What’s next--rides? When it comes to holiday decorations, the homes on Shadbush Street, Dahlia Circle and environs really go over the roof.

You know this neighborhood’s different when you spot Snoopy and Bugs Bunny on ATVs at 16427 Shadbush St. Music kicks in at 16439 Shadbush St., where an automated Santa plays “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” for Mickey Mouse, Barney and the infant Jesus.

But the creative wattage really cranks up at 16449 Shadbush St., where teddy bears teeter-totter, and children teeter on a ladder while trying to affix ornaments to a tree. A reindeer conducts jazzy versions of Christmas tunes on the roof; near the garage is Santa’s mailbox, pencil provided.

A working chairlift runs from the sidewalk to the chimney at 16461 Shadbush St., and skiers race down the roof; one is splayed, another does an extreme maneuver off the edge. Below, a doll throws a snowball at a second one, which recoils when hit, and a little boy ice fishes, his pole bobbing.

Santa already stopped at 9947 Camrose Circle: Led by two reindeer is a gift-wrapped vintage Ford Mustang on the lawn with a sign saying, “To me, love Santa.”

The train through Santa’s workshop at 9892 Dandelion Ave. wasn’t running, but ice skaters twirled, and teddy bears swayed and waved; Fountain Valley Boy Scouts sold popcorn ($1), hot cocoa or hot apple cider (50 cents). One home on the Dandelion cul-de-sac had a sign on the roof that said Merry Christ with mas flashing; at another, Santa’s miniature marching band actually struck bells to play Christmas tunes.

It’s Christmas with the Chipmunks at 9922 Dahlia Circle--there’s a working Ferris wheel, and Alvin, Simon and Theodore are singing. And 9934 Dahlia Circle offers “Merry Christmas to our friends around the world” and greetings in many languages. Santa’s runway and hangar are at 9946 Dahlia Circle, and he’s coming in for a landing in a snow-white airplane.

With a dove over the door and luminarias lining the walkway, 9958 Dahlia Circle has a soothing effect. Gingerbread men ski and sled at 9947 Dahlia Circle, and there’s a fabulous automated figure in every window. Santa surfs the roof at 9923 Dahlia Circle, and says, “Ho, ho, ho, who needs snow!” Santa kneels in prayer before the infant Jesus at 9911 Dahlia Circle, a novel juxtaposition.

Another striking combo can be seen at 9946 Gladiola Circle: a Star of David on the roof and “Merry Christmas Merry Christmas” on the garage. There were seven dwarfs atop the roof at 9978 Gladiola Circle and snowmen in every conceivable position in the winter wonderland below.

Filbert proved the street of a thousand lights. I walked. I gawked.

At the end of Filbert, I dropped.

* Times Line(TM): 808-8463. To hear brief capsules of other “3-Hour Tours,” call TimesLine and press *7150

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

3-HOUR TOUR

1. Lakeshore Learning Materials

18679 Brookhurst St.

(714) 963-8255

Open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

2. Rim Jhim Indian Cuisine

18687 Brookhurst St.

(714) 963-6777

Open for dinner nightly, 5:30 to 9:30, and for lunch Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

3. Decorated Homes of Dahlia

Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to the Brookhurst Street exit and head north. Turn left on Thistle Avenue. Lights on 5 to 10 p.m. through Christmas.

PARKING / BUSES

Buses: OCTA bus 35 runs north and south along Brookhurst Street with stops at Ellis and Thistle avenues.

Parking: There is street parking along Brookhurst Street and, though often open to foot traffic only, in the Dahlia tract; there is ample free parking in a lot at the other locations.