In the spirit of better late than never, here's how we celebrated the Christmas season this winter! These are some of the things we did locally before and after our trip to Oklahoma.
Sometime over Thanksgiving weekend, we put up most of our Christmas decorations. This was our 2nd Christmas in this house, so we had an idea of where everything would go. We also made some additions--a small tree in Mark's game room upstairs and some luminarias for the front porch.
 |
| the big tree in front of the living room windows, which are outlined in lights |
 |
| Mark's new tree with drum ornaments |
 |
| the Hallmark tree in my office |
 |
| the front porch with luminarias (there are also lights around the posts on both sides of the door) |
 |
| looking down into a luminaria (battery-powered candles on a timer!) |
We also enjoyed several visits to the Toledo Zoo's Lights Before Christmas (buying season passes to the zoo gets you unlimited admissions all year, including this event, so that's a great deal!).
 |
| Toledo Zoo spelled out in lights |
 |
| Mark with some lighted trees in the background |
 |
| me with different trees in the background |
 |
| me with the very colorful new "zoo" sign |
 |
| a selfie of Mark & me with winter hats on and lights in the background |
 |
| very tasty churro doughnuts with dipping sauce |
We made our annual drive through the light display at the Deck-Hanneman Funeral Home, plus a stop for ice cream at the Sundae Station (which is just around the corner and closes for a couple of months in the winter).
 |
| the funeral home entrance--so many lights! |
And Mark played with the Lima Symphony Orchestra on their Christmas concert. It was a fantastic program! I also enjoyed the decorations around town and in the civic center.
 |
| Downtown Lima tree |
 |
| giant tree inside the civic center |
 |
| orchestra warming up on stage before the concert |
We continued our new tradition of exchanging stockings. Mark got me the loveliest, most thoughtful things!
 |
| our stockings are stuffed! |
 |
| here's what we found inside! |
And we connected with my parents and grandparents on video to open gifts together.
 |
| wrapped presents under the tree |
 |
| all set up for the video chat! |
Here are a few cute pictures of Daniel and my family on the day they celebrated together. It's so fun to have a little kid around--the joy! the awe!
 |
| Daniel gazing up at the tree |
 |
| Christmas at Nana and Papa's! |
 |
| Daniel and my Dad reading one of the books we sent |
 |
| Daniel checking out some presents, Mom and Grandma smiling behind him |
No comments:
Post a Comment