I thought maybe we could make ginger bread houses, and eat cookie dough, and go ice skating, and maybe even hold hands.

The Festival of Trees always kicks off the Christmas season for me because I'm surrounded by: 1.) Christmas Trees/Wreaths

2.) The smell of cinnamon rolls

3.) Singing/dancing performances to Christmas music

4.) Gingerbread houses

So, as you can imagine, it's a pretty spectacular experience. I always bring my camera because I think I'm going to take tons of pictures and then I realize that it's lame to take tons of pictures of just trees without people. But, then I change my mind when I see some trees that I think are particularly awesome. Like.....Sock Monkey Family Tree!!

For some reason this tree made me think of Mary, Jared and their new baby-to-be. I don't know why....Mary and Jared don't look like sock monkeys. Well, actually, I lied just then. I think the blue one looks like Jared and the orange one looks like Mary. I can't help myself.

This next Christmas tree reminds me of Brady because he loves Nutcrackers. I don't know why he does, he never really explained it. But, every year I would buy Christmas decorations Brady seemed a little down that I never bought a Nutcracker. Don't worry, I finally broke down and bought one to fulfill his Christmas spirit expectations.

Best part about my photography skills--Brady can not only just love Nutcrackers--but BE a nutcracker!

It was really crowded this year because we went on a weekend night instead of going on a weekday night. It is truly surprising the difference that it makes. I wanted to get a picture of Angie and Bronson--but instead ended up getting a picture of Angie, Bronson and a creeper.

If she didn't want to be in the picture, I don't think that she would've stood that close. Luckily, the crowds died down so I was able to get a picture of the whole group. Everyone wanted me to take another picture because they thought that they looked funny. I assured them that they all looked funny so no one would stand out in particular.

Next stop was gingerbread houses. It was hard to get near any of the houses because everyone was trying to get a picture of this sweet Candyland amusement park. Luckily for me, some really cute little girls in pink ballerina costumes came on stage and distracted everyone with their adorableness so I was able to get a shot of it.

After gingerbread houses, we stopped and ate some of the really delicious cinnamon rolls and scones and listened to some more Christmas music. I didn't know the rolls were going to be as good as they were, so next year I think I will buy 5 of them instead of 1. On our way out we caught a couple more cool trees. One tree was a "Chef Tree" so Brady and I made sure to get a picture by it.

My favorite tree is saved for last--Santa surfing! Even though the Festival was closed and people were supposed to be leaving, there were plenty of people staying behind trying to get pictures of this thing; at least that's my excuse for the bad angle.

Hooray for Christmas! I hope you are enjoying your holiday season so far!