Christmas 2013

St. Charles Christmas Traditions 2013

Today was the big day…we made the trip out west for our favorite annual Christmas event–St. Charles Christmas Traditions!

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We went to a new restaurant for lunch…Llywelyn’s Pub. I think this is my favorite place that we’ve gone in all of the years we’ve been going to St. Charles. The restaurant is in the old First National Bank building, which is really cool. There are even tables in the vaults! The food is really good…I had a burger with bacon, onions, and havarti cheese (genius!), and colcannon on the side.

After lunch, we began our walk. I love looking at all of the shop windows, signs, and decorations. You really feel like you’re stepping back in the past!

For the second year, there were also gingerbread houses to see. I loved the Tower Bridge, and the person in charge of the voting (who happened to be British), was impressed that Turkey actually knew the name of the bridge, and didn’t just call it “London Bridge.” I also really like the Toys for Tots display…it was so detailed!

Of course, we hunted for Christmas characters. We got cards from 26 of the 40 that are participating this year, and saw another three of them as they went by. Sadly, we didn’t see the Master of Revels at all (my personal favorite), but we did see Jack Frost, which is almost as good.

All of the buildings are so beautiful, too…it’s such a charming town!

There’s a part of me that dreads when this day comes every year, because it’s over so quickly, but I’ll spend all of the next year looking forward to that day when we go back, and do the whole thing all over again! In the meantime, though, I can enjoy this souvenir Ryan bought me from my favorite little English shop!

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Gingerbread Walk 2013

We’ve been to downtown Belleville twice now this season to look at the gingerbread houses…once at night, and once during the day, when we could some of them a little bit better. I’m always amazed by how creative and talented people are with gingerbread, frosting, and candies. One of these years, I’d like to enter, but then again, I know my abilities with gingerbread, and it doesn’t come close to any of these!

The Hobbit Home was the overwhelming family favorite. The details were amazing.

As amazing as that one is, it didn’t even win “Best in Show!” That award went to this very cool Bedrock creation:

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This penguin one was also popular. I think we all had to do a double-take to realize it’s a surf shop!

This tree was also a favorite…we loved all of the animals!

Two different Nutcracker-themed creations!

You can tell which ones were submitted by the Girl Scouts…they usually have a camping them!

The details on this bistro were charming:

Another very detailed tree:

I always like the Belleville-themed ones a lot.

The Gingerbread Walk has become one of my favorite things to look forward to every year at Christmastime!

Happy Santa Lucia Day!

As oldest daughter, Bunny took her job as Santa Lucia very seriously this morning.

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She generously allowed Ladybug to dress up with her, though.

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The Lussekattes were a big hit, for which I was grateful, because they’re an awful lot of work!

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Happy Santa Lucia Day!

Christmas Brewery

Last weekend, we went to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery in St. Louis to look at the Christmas lights. This was a special event, because this year, for the first time, they’ve opened the brewery to foot traffic on the weekends. In the past, you’ve only been able to drive through and look at the lights. It was quite a display, and a lot of fun to get to see the brewery in a whole new “light!”

Christmas on The Hill 2013

Today we made our annual trip to The Hill neighborhood of St. Louis to see the nativity scenes, hear La Befana tell her story, and eat salamites. This was an especially good day to be there, because today is the commemoration of Ambrose, the saint for whom the church that is the center of Hill life was named.

This year, while we were at Gelato Di Riso for the La Befana storytelling, we actually bought some gelato. Even though it was incredibly cold today, the gelato was a very welcome treat. I definitely want to go back there in the future (although, perhaps next time it will be when it’s warmer)!

Chickadee Thursday

It’s sleepy outside today. Chickadee thinks so, too!

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I bought Chickadee her permanent Christmas stocking this year, after using her “Baby’s First Christmas” stocking last year (a family tradition). Our family theme is snowmen…the stockings don’t all match, but they all feature a snowman (or snow woman, I guess), of some sort. Chickadee needed something a little extra special, though, and when I saw this one, I knew it was perfect…it fits with our family theme, but it’s also so her!

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I can’t wait to see if the snow we’re getting tonight is still around tomorrow…it will be just like the first time she sees it again!

The Town Tree Lighting–2013

Last night, we went downtown for our city’s tree lighting.

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It’s a charming event. It begins with a community sing, and I’m always rather impressed that people show up after a long day of shopping!

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Of course, the children love it!P1330623

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Even though the tree has been up and on downtown for the last week, there’s still something magical about that moment they flip the switch!

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Still to come…details on the annual Gingerbread displays!

The Lego Christmas Market

Instead of braving the crowds and shopping today, we spent the day at home, working on our Lego Christmas Market. It was a far superior way to spend our day…all the fun of putting together a puzzle, but far easier to display and much more enjoyable to play with, and not a manic shopper in sight!

There were enough stalls that each child got to build one…if Chickadee had been big enough, there would have even been one for her! Since she’s not ready for Lego bricks, I helped her out. (Ryan and I also got to build the carousel.)

We also had the two holiday exclusive with purchase sets…they go perfectly with the Market!

This is going to make a nice Christmas decoration in our schoolroom!P1330530

An Early Christmas Gift

Earlier this summer, I saw that for their Christmas set this year, Lego was going to be making a Christmas market. Now, I’ve never been to a Christmas market in Germany, but I have been to the one in Chicago, which I understand to be pretty authentic, and I loved every moment of it. I’ve also used the Christmas market as an example of a European Christmas tradition in school many years. Obviously, we needed to get it!

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This week, I got an e-mail from Lego, letting me know that I could order it (early, even!). So, I did. That day. And, I was very impressed with how fast it got here. We’ll be putting this together in school in December, and it will become part of our school room Christmas decorations! What a nice early Christmas gift to our family!