December 13

Despite a forecast for freezing rain and snow, Chris and I decided to join my parents on a trip to the Botanical Garden's first-ever holiday lights. Caleb has seen pictures in the newspaper and heard Grandpa talking about it, and he has been begging to go for months. Tonight was the night, and luckily the weather held off until we were safely home. We had so much fun! Sadly, my pictures don't come close to doing it justice. No tripod + wearing Lily + Bailey's and coffee in my hand did not equal good pictures. But squint your eyes and imagine with me.

Or even better, squint your eyes and imagine it from the perspective of a four-year-old. It was magical.

There were large magnetic snowmen for the kids to decorate,

and ornaments hanging from trees above lighted paths. Beautiful!

The kids loved stamping Christmas ornaments with Grandpa and Grandma,

And Lily was snug as a bug in her bear suit, in the Ergo, zipped inside my coat.

We happened upon the "Snow Ball" - a dance party, complete with a DJ inside an inflatable snow globe - and my children were skeptical, as usual.

Chris tried to encourage them to dance.

But just as they were starting to dance with him, the professional dancers came over.

Caleb and Daisy stood, mesmerized, while they did their thing. Later, Caleb told me that he thought the dancers were kind of scary. He was right; their white wigs gave them a freakish quality, and a he-dancer was more than a bit odd. 

I didn't get a picture of my favorite part of the night, though. We were leaving the Snow Ball when the dance music stopped and a lovely, sparkling princess came out. She was the Snow Queen, and she sang "Believe" (you know, the Christmas song by Josh Groban?) 

As soon as I saw her sparkles, I knew Caleb wouldn't want to miss her. So we circled back around and Caleb stood in silent wonder as she sang. He was transfixed and a little bit terrified, and he leaned into me and held my hand throughout the song. It was his favorite part of the night.

Tunnel of lights!

My mom waited for her kiss under the mistletoe,

and Dad didn't disappoint her!

I love this picture. There's a baby between us and a toddler in his arms, but we couldn't miss our mistletoe moment. This perfectly sums up this season of our lives.

It was such a special evening!

Oh, and I can't forget to mention our photo shoot this morning. I made one last effort to take Christmas card photos. It didn't go well, but I may have a few usable pictures. However, Caleb did take a few great ones of Lily and me:

I think they're pretty good for a four-year-old!