If its one thing many of us don't do enough of, its enjoying our very own backyard. Well, yes our home backyard of course, but our very own city life backyard. If you are local and in the area, this is definitely worth putting on your holiday to do list (just try to be in the moment with me and not in the crazy hustle and bussel we are all in :) so trust me and add this on that long list!).With it being the last, beautiful- is it really winter-day outside, we decided to embrace the city life of downtown Milwaukee. 64 degree weather on a December 4th night was enough to hit the town itself! The drive into the city skyline could light up any "bahumbug" spirit. The trees on every downtown street lit up in holiday smiles. The weather may not have said it but the beautiful holiday decorations on every corner definitely showed that the Christmas Season was here. We went downtown to the Market Place where there was a Gingerbread Display that college students created; their amazing talent took Gingerbread homes to a whole new level. These homes were available to be bid on to raise money for their local community projects. These were also Gingerbread homes that the best were voted on; this brought some serious viewing and fun into the beautiful display. Take a look at the photos I couldn't resist sharing with you!
Never under estimate the talent of a Gingerbread Home Designer! It is also a great, simple and creative gift to give to a family or a gift that a special elf or traditional Holiday Saint (Nick) would want to share with the kids! I always love bringing the cousins together to do our own crazy gingerbread decorating! This display, however, was definitely crazy beautiful and well worth the trip to see.
We also took the time to enjoy the Cathedral Square Christmas Display! In the summer this community square is filled with different activity. So for the winter holiday season, it was filled with lights and different creative Themed Christmas Trees, displaying all the amazing organizations in our area and what they do just by what their tree looked like! Our kids were proud to see their own school sponsored tree up as well! It was all a beautiful sight and an area of how much a volunteer in the community can make a big difference as well as how many volunteers all working together a little bit can make the magic happen!Of course we ended the night with a little ice cream treat, shopping local at "The Purple Door" with their own recipes of home made ice cream, Whiskey? Hody Toddy?? We each had a small sampling and lets just say a few of us stuck with our traditional chocolate or salted caramel flavors while the others got a little riskier and enjoyed it all! Everything was delicious and definitely worth the stop.
So from my family to yours, take a little bit of time out to be together and embrace the Holiday Spirit all around us. It doesn't take anything too extravagant to be together and start your own family traditions that your kids will love and remember forever; big and small.
