Holiday Bucket List Update

We are a little over a week away from Christmas and we have been doing all the things!! Baking cookies, shopping, counting down, and playing in this winter wonderland snow, although I'm not a huge fan of the white stuff! I guess it makes it a picturesque Christmas, right?

And we've been busy tackling the bucket list! Since we last chatted, we have checked another four items off the list! And each one was just as fun at the last! Here's what we've been up to this week.

We baked gingerbread cookies last week and boxed a few up for our next door neighbor. Sadly, it appears she's out of town and we weren't able to leave them. We will attempt again after the holidays. But, don't you worry, we boxed up sugar cookie cutouts that we made yesterday to give to his tennis coaches tonight. Still giving the baked homemade goods, even if it isn't to our favorite neighbor!

Speaking of gingerbread, McKinley decorated his gingerbread house last week. I've been trying to make after school fun, since it's been pretty stressful trying to wrap up testing and all the comes with the end of second quarter. He came up with all the ideas, but needed a little help in the icing department. Those piping bags can be tricky!

Over the weekend, the three of us headed to the Johnson County Museum to check out the vintage Christmas trees inside the Mid-Century Modern home they have on display. I've never gone through the museum and enjoyed it so much! It's a history of how Johnson County was established and lots of landmarks that used to be a part of our small city. So many memories too! If you are a child of Overland Park, then you definitely need to check it out! And if you love anything MCM like myself, you definitely need to check out the trees before they're gone!

Yesterday was a snow day which meant boredom and the need to play in the snow. But before all of that took place, McKinley and I settled in for a bit and watched the original Miracle on 34th Street. He was antsy at times, but he really did watch, and at the end was chatting up a storm about how real Santa Claus is! So glad he understood and was able to answer some of the questions I threw at him at the end. We also watched the old Frosty the Snowman cartoon while making cookies. Two classics in one day! 

This weekend is packed with all the other things we love to do and I can't wait to share them with you!

Here is a look at our vintage aluminum tree! I love it so much!

Hope you're enjoying the season!

XO,

Andrea

Holiday Bucket List 2019

So, here we are on December 9th, with roughly two and half weeks until Christmas, and I'm just now sharing my Holiday Bucket List for this season. Guess what people, life is crazy right now, and I am just glad I got the list created!

I love this one! I tried to come up with some new things to do this year, but as always, there's the same fun traditions we do every year! That's why they're traditions, right? Check out this years Holiday Bucket List!!

We have been able to check two items off the list so far. We've already hit up Crown Center and McKinley got his first dose of play under the Mayor's Christmas Tree. He loves this tradition! We took him on his second Christmas, at night to look at the lights, but it wasn't until he was two that he got to play! Now in addition to playing, we take in a little ice skating at the Ice Terrace, but on this day, we ran out of time. I'm sure we will be back!

This year we had a first. We took McKinley to see The Kansas City Ballet's The Nutcracker at Kauffman Center and it was a gorgeous production!! I was a dancer growing up, and The Nutcracker was my first ballet production at age five. It is such a magical show and McKinley loved watching the larger than live tree grow! Definitely something everyone should see once in their lives. We are planning to see his sweet friend in "Clara's Dream", the Miller Marley production, later in the month. And as always, we are taking in the Coterie's production of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in a couple of weeks. I am a huge supporter of theater arts!!

We have our reservations for the Holiday Train at Union Station in a couple of weeks as well. This is such a fun, free, family event!! Tickets, which again are free, go on "sale" to the public starting December 13th. It helps reserve your time to visit the train and you can get a pic with Santa too! The trains rolls into town on December 18th and will be on display until December 21st. Get all the info, and more about the Holidays at Union Station, here.

One of my favorite things to do is bake sweet treats for our sweet neighbors! Our next door neighbor does that same thing! She bakes up cookies and brings McKinley an ornament every year. It's so kind! And he remembers every year when placing them on the tree! I also bake breads for hostesses so they have something to wake up to the next day and not feel like they have to make breakfast after entertaining the night before. I shop for darling trays and cookie tins to make the gifts extra special! And while your baking, you should add sugar cookies to the list! We love to add frosting and gobs of sprinkles to ours!

After school today, McKinley is planning to decorate the Gingerbread house I assembled yesterday. I'm not even going to pretend that he helped! But he loves to decorate it and I've been collecting sprinkles, cookie gel for "glue", holiday candies and more, to make it as festive as he desires!

Have you ever been to the light display at Deanna Rose? It's so spectacular that we could see some of the lights from my parents house! (They happen to live less than five minutes from the farmstead!) Take a blanket to wrap up in, a Thermos of hot cocoa, and tune that radio dial for a festive display! Also, if you haven't seen the one at the research lab on 103rd and Metcalf, you need to go! Just park in the church parking lot across the street, and take in the dazzling display! These are staples during our light night!!

New to the list this year is the Johnson County Museum's Vintage Tree display! I saw a friend post about it last week and immediately added it to the list! If you haven't been to this museum, it's a must! It's all about the history if Overland Park and there's a fun Kidscape play area! Get a yearly membership while your there. You'll definitely go back! Check it out here! 

Lastly, I plan to introduce McKinley to some old fashioned Christmas movies and I plan to start with White Christmas!! Find a classic that everyone will love and put it in your rotation this year. I have tons that he needs to see! What is your  favorite?

That about covers it for this year! Are you going to play along? And if so, what is the first thing you plan to tackle? Let's check in next week on our progress!

I love the holidays!

XO,
Andrea

Holiday Bucket List - Crown Center and Union Station

I've always loved Crown Center at the holidays, but it wasn't until we started taking McKinley that I truly appreciated its magic! The lights at dusk, the larger than life tree, the squeals of children as they play on over-sized wooden toys brings the holidays to life.

For McKinley's first Christmas, we made our way at dusk to Crown Center and carried him around the giant play area to let him sit on a few things before whisking him off for a good nights sleep. As he's gotten older, we go earlier in the year, and more frequently, so he can take full advantage of all the things this area of wonder has to offer. 

And now our tradition includes Union Station! We've always gone for the train ride around the Grand Hall and checking out the enormous train exhibit they create every holiday season. But it wasn't until last year that we took part in the Holiday Train that arrives at Union Station the week before Christmas! And I'm not sure why we've waited so long. It's so wonderful! Each car is decorated in a different holiday theme and McKinley is mesmerized by it all! And to be completely honest, so are we! My husband is just like a big kid walking through, pointing out something here and something there. It's truly a family evening you need to mark on your calendar for next year!

 Here are some highlights from this years train tour! 

It's four days until Christmas! After the holidays, I'll be moving into the Winter portion of the bucket list! Tonight is our city light tour, however we're going to make it a two night excursion this year since we'll be on the downtown end of the city tomorrow. Check out this link for all the neighborhood light displays! It's definitely the best one I've found. If you're working on the list, how are you coming along?

XO,

Andrea