The Beginning of the Christmas Season

On Saturday we packed up the family van and headed out to cut our Christmas tree. Having come from a family of fake trees, I absolutely love this tradition. There is nothing more fun to me than finding the one perfect tree. It signifies the beginning of Christmas and I can't wait to get it home and decorated.

K and Daddy walking down the path to the trees.
Left: Daddy, K and Grandpa cutting down Grandpa's tree.  Right: K and Daddy looking for the best spot to cut down ours.

K checking out the stockings that were hung with care.
Left: Saying "Ho, ho, ho."  Right: Just looking cute.

After we got our tree home and in the stand we headed out to one of the local zoo's to see their light display. I've never been to a zoo light show and to say I was amazed is a gross under statement. It was spectacular! K loved it as well and really enjoyed dancing to the synchronized light/music show. The number one comment heard that night was that it was the most crowded anyone has ever seen the zoo. Since I had never been, I have nothing to compare it to but I will say it was pretty crazy (or as A said, "It was a zoo." Har har) I'm guessing the warmer temperatures had a lot to do with it. But here is the most amazing part. As we were standing in line to buy our tickets, a guy walks up to us and says, "Need two tickets?" I figured he was scalping zoo tickets which is pretty crazy although the line was quite long so I wasn't too surprised. Anyway, he hands us one adult ticket and one child ticket FOR FREE. Wow! Now all we had to do was pay for one adult ticket. As we were marveling about this awesome fortune of ours, a lady walks up and hands us ANOTHER FREE adult ticket and says "Merry Christmas." WHAT??? We totally didn't have to pay for any of our tickets! By the time the night was over and we had paid for our hot chocolates, rides on the carousel, hot apple cider and funnel cakes, we still hadn't paid as much as the price of admission would have been for the three of us. It was like a Christmas miracle!

The pictures don't even do it justice to actually being there.

K *LOVED* the carousel. She was smiling so huge and saying, "I'm flying!"
Left: She really enjoyed the penguin exhibit. Right: Even after 4 hours there, two of which were after her usual bedtime, she was still smiling and having fun. I think she would have stayed longer but this Momma was getting tired!

What a perfect way to start the Christmas season!