tis the season to be jolly and joyous.

Now that Christmas has come and gone, I actually have a brief moment to document the days leading up to our celebration of Christ's incarnation here on earth. Per usual, it flew by in the flashiest of flashes and I don't feel I had nearly enough time to participate in all the festive activities that I wanted to, but here's a quick rundown of the pre-Christmas happenings.

First on the agenda was Christmas cookie baking and Christmas light viewing. My parents and I spent a Sunday afternoon at Michelle and Nick's rolling out dough, cutting out cookies and decorating dozens of sugar cookie angels, trees, stars and snowmen. I'll be the first to say it is quite the trick to roll out cookies, cut out shapes, transfer them to a baking sheet and make icing with a 4-year-old wanting to help every step of the way. They might not have made the prettiest cookies, but at some point, I had to lay my perfectionist tendencies aside and realize it's about having fun and making a Christmas memory (baby steps). Just to give you a visual, her idea of decorating the finished product was dumping an entire container of sprinkles on one single cookie.




After we sufficiently depleted several bottles of holiday sprinkles, it was time to see the magnificent Christmas tree at the Shops at Legacy and look at the lights in Deerfield. It was an incredibly chilly night, but we put on brave faces in an effort to capture the best Kodak moments possible. Meredith and Haylee weren't really having it (I can't blame them - it was beyond frigid), but I think we managed to get a couple of keepers. After that, we piled into the car and weaved our way through the crowded streets of Deerfield. The light displays were impressive as usual, but no pics were taken. I was too busy enjoying the sights.






Among the rest of the pre-Christmas celebrations were the trains at Northpark with my nieces (I have no idea where those pictures went), the 3rd annual Jingle Mingle (hosted by Meagan and Bryan this year), the 4th annual Gingerbread Throwdown and a Classy Christmas Party (hosted by friends of Hailey's). Unfortunately, I only have a small smattering of pictures from these festive occasions. I have fallen into a bit of a photographic slump and have gotten pretty lazy. I am pleased to say, however, that I got back in the game for Christmas, so that post will be chock-full of pictures.






So there you have it, a small snapshot of the days leading up to Christmas. Up next are Christmas Eve and Christmas. Stay tuned...