Happy Saturday! With only 10 days until Christmas we are cramming in all of the fun Christmasy activities! Trust me, you don’t have to go far for some fun Christmas cheer🎄
Our Christmas festivities began with our Embassy Festival of Trees tradition. {Each Thanksgiving Eve we go to the Night of Lights in downtown Fort Wayne, have dinner out, and just start off the holiday season with a exciting event.} We love this event; there is something magical about beautifully lit trees lining the Embassy halls!
This year was a little different in that we didn’t make it to the Night of Lights and attended the Festival a little later. Either way it was still a festive evening–Grayson agreed, loving all of the lights!
We even had a couple of guests come along this year💕
Aunt Hannah & Grayson 
Nana & Grayson
Grayson wasn’t impressed with Santa! He hesitated to go see him and then ended up being terrified. I guess there is always next year🎅🏼
🤔
Grant’s work Christmas party is always a fun evening out! #datenight
I’m starting to think this {real} Christmas tree thing is going to be a tradition! I wasn’t sure if we were going to get a tree this year with the upcoming move to Michigan, but of course it doesn’t feel like Christmas without a tree, so we found a real one–even if it was the last of the pickings! We stumbled upon Stauffer Farms who was open late one random Thursday night and so we decided to give them a try! This place was cute– no cutting your own but a barn lined with pre-cut trees, wreaths, extra vase-fillers and an old bouncy horse for the littles😂 The barn was lit up with lights–which added to the Christmas fun!
This was the start to our tree decorating… #whatnottodo
And a few days later we had ourselves a real National Lampoon Christmas Vacation with lights that didn’t work– I thought all of the lights burnt out as I added more but found out only one strand went bad.😅
This is our current tree status and I don’t think it’s going to get much better than that💁🏼♀️ #betterthanitwas
We tried out the Festival of Gingerbread Houses downtown. We had never been before and I don’t think it will be a tradition for our family but it was fun while it lasted. Grayson wanted to run around so we kept things short–
…found a gingerbread cookie and left! We then ventured around a few neighborhoods to see some Christmas lights. A fun evening with my two favorites💚💙
Another adorable event that I’d highly recommended is the Carmel Christkindlmarkt. This was all of the cute feels😍 located at Carmel City Center {such a fun place even without the German Christmas attraction}. The market surrounds the ice rink {which stays open most of the winter months} and brings old world charm to the area. Food, drink, gifts, and handmade decorations line the rink in a cabin array.
When you aren’t sure how to use your mittens😂
We walked the rink and then ventured to the City Center Shops and Restaurants. We ended up eating at Matt the Miller’s Tavern. The food was yummy! Seriously if you are looking for a fun Christmas activity with the fam or a date night you should try out this event–now through Dec 23rd.
So that’s what we’ve been up to as we celebrate this exciting time of year! Something new for our family that I’ve added into the fun traditions and memories is this little devotional, Unwrapping the Names of Jesus, to help keep our focus on Christ this season. I leave it on our table and when we all are home for a meal we attempt to read it {more times than not it’s Grayson and I reading it at breakfast}. Or if I slip away Grayson grabs it and attempts reading it himself. #toocute
Such great pictures and fun!!
wouw.. very beautiful Christmas decoration. Merry Christmas to you and family:)