It's easy to get into the Christmas mood around here with the weather turning cold and so many activities to do. It's also a busy time for this tax accountant, but we try to find time for our favorites.
Lego Display
New to us this year was the Lego display at Cantigny, traditionally known for its gardens, World War II history museum and tank collection. It's fascinating to see what can be created from Legos. My favorites were two Back to the Future movie scenes. Oh, and the trains that went around the first display we saw. I was like a little kid and said, "Ooh! Train!" the first three times it passed me! We also ran into William's buddy, Blake, and his family while we were there.
This was the first year we didn't hit up the Chicago Christkindlmarket and only went to the one in Naperville. It's not as much fun at being in the city, and the bratwurst line was too long to wait, but we did get our cinnamon sugar pecans and our ornaments. For ornaments we celebrated 2018 travels: the Colosseum, the Rialto bridge in Venice, and a tree sloth for Peru. William picked a jet ski and panda - perhaps aspirational for future vacations!
It's been a few years since we did the holiday lights trolley tour organized by our homeowners association. Ironically our neighborhood has some of the best lights for our side of town (i.e. the area that the trolley can cover in a one hour tour), so except for some exceptionally decorated standalone homes or blocks, nothing can compare to our entire subdivision. But, wow, do some people go all out!
After three years as Room Coordinator (alone or with another mom), I did not sign up this year. Mostly that is because I knew I was going to be traveling for two of the three classroom party days. So my interaction with the classroom has been as field trip chaperone and as a volunteer for the classroom winter party - the only party that I knew we'd be home to celebrate. They ended up having a few parents cancel, so John got to come, too! I never get good photos on party day because the kids are running around like crazy and I'm busy running activities. I'm sad we didn't get a photo of the three of us. I did get a photo of John hauling the game to the school and running it in the gym. It was our version of Christmas Cornhole. The kids used either a bean bag or a cardboard present crafted by William to attempt to get in the hole. The winners (any kid with 2 points) had a play off. I think they enjoyed it!
