Christkindlmarket

For the past several years, after our family has finished its annual tour of The Walnut Room, we venture over to the Christkindlmarket.  It's usually so cold and so crowded that we quickly dash in and out.  On the drive home, we promise ourselves that next year, we'll spend a little more time at the Christkindlmarket.   This year we decided to make good on our promise.

The weather seemed more like March than December tonight, but everyone at the market was in a festive mood.  It's hard not to be when there's booths that look like this:

and the kids are happy like this:

I think we've found something else to add to our Christmas traditions!

Early Christmas 2011

For more than two decades, we've celebrated Christmas early with Missy and her family.  We usually hang out at Brookfield Zoo for awhile before heading back to our house for pizza and presents.  This year we changed it up just a bit, as Missy wasn't feeling well, and Steve didn't join us as he suffered a pretty serious accident at work less than two days before.  We had a quiet, low-key celebration.  We skipped the zoo, ate pizza and exchanged gifts, and called it a night.

Happy early Christmas!