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Pictures with Santa, lights on our house, crafts and trees.

We're doing a Polar Express-like steam train ride this weekend and a trip to Fort Wilderness in WDW for the dinner show on the 20th. That's it this year. We're swamped and works been crazy. I'm hoping to get the tree up soon, because I think DS will enjoy decorating this year.

@mrbee: what were the mixed results from the Christmas tree lighting? We're going to one tomorrow.

We are going to a local park that has been "transformed" into a winter wonderland with lights and decorations. They have a train that goes around the park and we bought tickets to ride it around. I'm hoping our daughter enjoys that!!

So, DH and I are still TTC our first, but this question made me think an idea from my childhood.

As a kid, we used to go to the local beach, which was transformed into a big drive through light display. They even had a radio station you could tune to and the lights would "dance" to the music being played! It is one of my favorite Christmas memories!

Many local zoos have something similar called "zoo lights". DH and I went in Lincoln Park in Chicago. That was pretty cool too, although I only saw that as an adult, not a kid, so I can't speak to how kids would view it. But it was awesome as a grown up!

There is something so magical about the bright lights shining in the dark, cold night!

Decorated the tree together. She was so stick sticking ornaments on the tree. Then lights on the outside of the house. Going to see Santa. Doing crafts with her. Going to bake cookies and decorate a gingerbread house together.

Decorate the tree, go to a reading of Polar Express, an outdoor lights show/festival and bake cookies. I'm trying out the elf this year too

We always end up doing a lot of things, but I don't think you need it. The kids are fascinated by our outdoor lights and xmas tree. I think just doing that makes it feel magical for little ones!

We went to light up night in my hometown. There's a parade & at the end is Santa. Chloe & dad picked out our Xmas tree and put up our lights outside. (That was hysterical, it involved her toy drill, his staple gun, a ladder & me calling them Clark and Clark Jr.)

I started elf on the shelf this year and my god is that a PITA. Chloe thinks it's HYSTERIAL and cracks up every day, so crap, so now I'm stuck with it.

On Saturdays we listen to Xmas music (I found anthro a holiday mix on spotify) and have a dance party. Wow, is that fun. Braverman style dance party in our house!

We also make sugar cookies and decorate them, but that's later this month.

My mom always goes the extra mile, so we're going to go visit her, ha! She does stuff like making flour santa footprints on the carpet, putting chewed up carrots outside (from the reindeer), a piece of red velvet from Santas suit stuck on the fireplace and his glasses forgotten by the cookies. We believed in Santa for a ridiculously long time!

We went to a Christmas tree farm with alpacas (hug hit!) We also went to an all day celebration in a nearby city. It was awesome. The whole town came together and there were live reindeer, stories with santa at the library, carolers, a lights parade, cookie decorating, and ice show... it was kind of amazing, everyone downtown together in these historical building. It was really cool.

The local gardens do a huge model train exhibit. We'll take her to a children's theater play and the nutcracker ballet when she is old enough.

I am also trying to do an allhandcrafted Christmas- it's cool because she keeps asking what I am working on and I tell her (her Christmas surprise) so she is all excited about her Christmas surprise.

We play Christmas music all day and she loves.it! We dance a lot. We only have a charlie brown tree and she loves that too.

DD is only 8 months so not much this year, but I plan to do a few things when she's older: advent calendar, pictures with santa (we may do that this year, too), crafts, tree decorating, going to see a show like the Nutcracker, etc.