Let's all do the Holiday Hustle :)

Whew! What a weekend!

I can’t say it started at all pleasant on Sat morning when I had to say farewell for now to a dear friend who was visiting :( nor was putting up with DH as he made his usual disgruntled morning sound disturbances.

So, it is no wonder that my girl and I headed out ASAP! First, we went to the library open house, followed by a visit to Grandma’s house, a shopping trip for snow boots, and dinner at our favorite Asian Restaurant. Throw in a few other quick stops for rushed covert gift shopping and we ended up with a late night stop at Cosley Zoo’s Festival of Lights.
http://www.wheatonparkdistrict.com/pgs/parks/cosley/events/special.html#pumpkins_scarecrows

We walked along the duck path delighting in the animal shaped light displays and enjoyed a few more along the deer path. Most of the bird exhibits are closed for the winter but we spent some time chatting with the great horned owl and then wandered among the sweet smelling evergreen trees gathering scraps for crafts.

We got home hours later than planned and had way more fun than our usual weekend errand running and shopping trips. The night ended with ‘The flight before Xmas’ and hot cocoa by the naked tree.

Sunday morning we woke and hurried out the door to church. Thinking we were late, we walked right in to the sanctuary to find that we had arrived RIGHT in the middle of the early service. We obviously had read the clocks wrong. It is really funny in retrospect and it turned out to benefit the rest of the day in that we may have started on the wrong foot but we kept dancing and danced all day right up to bedtime.

That afternoon we decided to take a quick trip back in time to the 1890’s for Christmas at the Klein Creek Farm. http://www.dupageforest.com/NewsReleases/Holiday_Celebrations_at_Kline_Creek_Farm.html

Touring the elegant simplicity and festive decorations in the farmhouse and the quiet beauty of the winter wonder land was like jumping into a story or walking into a painting.

We went to the house first and were just in time for the tour which started in the kitchen, through the dining room, and ended in the parlor for a holiday carol and a cookie. Outside we smelled wood smoke and followed our noses to a big pit of delicious cider and more caroling.

Feeling full of Christmas cheer we then made our way back to the visitor’s center where volunteers had set up a craft table making cornucopias or decorative paper cones. As luck would have it Santa had made a surprise visit and my girl got a photo op with him in his sleigh.

Just as we were leaving we noticed a pair of ponies being led to a hay filled sleigh and we were invited to the first sleigh ride of the afternoon. We saw pretty cows that were all pregnant, a lot of Canadian geese taking a break from their long flight, and a small lake that is slowly growing the first crop the farm will harvest this winter season. What grows in a lake in winter? Why, ice; of course!

Finally, we made our way home this time before dark and laden with groceries. While dinner cooked and holiday music played we finally decorated the tree. Family bonding ensued as bedtime passed us by while we basked in the glory of our beautiful tree sipping more hot cocoa.