Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas (and Happy Holidays to those of you that don’t celebrate). In honor of Christmas, here are some pictures I took when we went through Clearbrook’s Wonderland of Lights exhibit in Arlington Heights, IL. You get to drive through it and it’s about 1.6 miles in length. It was really fun to see. I love Christmas lights. We went on a weeknight right after work so we it wasn’t too crowded. With my coupon, it cost $8 to go through it but they give you a pass so you can go back through it on the same night only (which we did).

It was hard to get a shot of this cool dragon because the lights blink:

One of my favorite things there was a gingerbread man that did cartwheels. It was just adorable!!! Of course the picture I took of it looks like it’s going to headbutt a tree. Oh well.

This was just a sampling of the nifty Christmas lights they have. The end of the tour was spectacular. You get to drive under all of these arches with blinking lights so it looks like you are in a light tunnel.

Here is a video of it. I took it by holding my camera out of the car window so you might want to mute your speakers unless you like the sound of wind noise.

Best wishes for a safe, fun, and wonderful holiday season!!!!

Winter Weather, Thanksgiving Dinner, My Grandma

I hope this blog post finds everyone staying warm and dry. Chicagoland was hit with a winter storm last night. My commute in was ok but the roads weren’t as clear as I expected them to be. When I got to work, the parking lot wasn’t cleared! None of the other people in the office were there yet so I had to drive over to the other entrance for the factory workers. We had close to 5 inches of snow so I had to pull my car in and out of the spot a few times to make a rut I could walk in to get to the door. My pant legs and shoes got wet! Ugh. Note to self: wear boots next time and some snow-resistant pants.

Here’s a pic on my way into work today. I don’t understand how people are so lazy, they can’t even clear off their rear window and taillights.

Rob and I haven’t been carpooling as much since he’s been working late a few times a week but we do follow each other for part of our commute. That’s Rob’s red car in the distance in this photo:

We had Middle Eastern food for Thanksgiving dinner (we celebrated at my parents’ home in Michigan). I had fattoush, hummous, pita bread (they make it fresh there now), fries, and a falafel sandwich from one of my favorite restaurants – Country Restaurant on Schaefer in Dearborn, MI. We had Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Cider to drink. Country also gave us a container of hot peppers, pickled turnips and those yummy pickles the Middle Eastern Restaurants serve.

Since we’re staying put in Chicagoland for Christmas, we celebrated Christmas with my family at Thanksgiving. We saw my grandma and I got a picture of her with one of her favorite gifts – a big jug of Maple Syrup. My grandma uses more Maple Syrup than anyone I’ve ever met. She goes through several jugs of it every year! My grandma is 96 years young now and she’s so hard to buy presents for because she doesn’t need anything. I know I can’t go wrong with a gift of Maple Syrup.

We also celebrated Christmas that weekend with my godmother and her husband. I lugged my mini-budnt pans and some ingredients with me to Michigan so I could make Ginger Pumpkin Pudding Cakes. I’ve been making these cakes for about a year now. I found out about this delicious recipe from Pinknest’s blog I also made some blueberry muffins too but only three are pictured for a reason – if I set anymore muffins out than that, my dad would have eaten them all. LOL

I’ll be visiting and commenting on all your awesome blogs soon. Take care and stay warm!!!!