The New York Times published an excellent article about Winter WonderLights on Sunday, along with this stunning image by longtime Times photographer Alan Zale, who was kind enough to share it with us.

The article talks about the "enchanted, walkable winter forest" visitors will discover at Sunnyside, the homestead of Washington Irving and all the lights on display.

In an elaborate display of outdoor illumination, the first-ever Winter WonderLights will make use of tens of thousands of LED lights, two miles of electroluminescent wire, 1,500 feet of rope light, 571 theatrical lighting fixtures and 14.7 miles of electrical cable. In all, that's 68,965 individual points of light along a half-mile path.

Make sure you're not left in the dark this December. The illumination begins Thursday.

Seventy thousand points of light, miles of electroluminescent wire and cable, and funky, hand-made sculptures of candy, flowers, animals, and a guy you might have heard of named Rip Van Winkle. Oh yea, and cookies and cocoa. Lots and lots of cookies and cocoa. And did I mention it's all created by the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze team. Interested? I thought so. Read on...

Winter WonderLights is the latest Historic Hudson Valley blockbuster event. It's a massive walk-through holiday lights display that will illuminate the woodlands at Washington Irving's Sunnyside starting Dec. 11.

What's the theme? Why, Rip Van Winkle's dreams of course, which means you will encounter Henry Hudson's men, an oversize candyland forest featuring - you guessed it - oversize candy, and giant DayGlo toadstools, among other fascinating finds.

Featuring nearly 70,000 points of light and scores of original sculpture, Winter WonderLights uses energy saving LED lighting technology and sculptures created on site form recycled and repurposed material, such as super cool life-size animals made from fallen limbs and twigs.

Wanna come see? Winter WonderLights takes place for 17 evenings, Dec. 11-14, 18-23, 26-30, and Jan. 2-3. The first reservation each evening is at 4:15. Click here for tickets.

HVBlog will be shining throughout December with lots of Winter WonderLights talk and images. More. To. Come.