Leavenworth, Washington and Trees on Parade

It’s DAY 9 OF 12 DAYS OF BLOGMAS!! Wow! Time is flying! Today we’re sharing local holiday attractions. I’m actually sharing a twofer! I’m telling you all about Leavenworth, WA and I’m inviting you into my home for the Christmas Trees on Parade.

First up Leavenworth

I moved to Washington over a year ago, last year through the power of the internet and word of mouth we found out about a little village that was full of holiday cheer. Leavenworth is a small Bavarian village that I had to visit once I found out about it. The mountains, the lights, the Christkindlmarkt! When I was younger I lived in Germany, so seeing that there was a taste of Bavaria near me we had to go!

The drive to Leavenworth was beautiful at times, but also a little to winding for this Texas girl. The drive home was another story, but we won’t get into that. Let’s just talk fun, food, and lights!

We visited Leavenworth during their annual Christkindlmarkt (Bavarian Christmas Market). During this time there’s a lantern parade, with Santa, Christkind, and St. Nicholas.

The lights are amazing all around, over 1 million! My babies approve. 🙂

You can’t escape the beautiful mountain views. My pictures cannot even do the views justice. The views, the jubilance, and the smells cannot be captured in pictures, you have to experience it for yourself.

There are cute shops, a spot for kids to play, good food, and there’s always something happening during the month of December.

 

The lights on all the trees were beautiful!

Speaking of trees…

 

I’m excited to be a part of Christmas Trees on Parade hosted by Terri Steffes of Christmas Tree Lane . A group of bloggers including myself are letting you into our homes to share our Christmas Trees.

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum {O fir tree}

Fun fact: When I was little I knew the song O Tannenbaum before I knew the song O Christmas Tree. I didn’t know all the words as it was in German and I was not even four years old, but O Tannenbaum was one of favorites to try to sing.

Thankfully, you don’t have to hear me sing today. 🙂 Instead you get to read about my tree, but mostly see a ton of pictures of my tree. 🙂

Decorating the Tree

As November comes to a close there’s so much anticipation to put up our tree and decorate. My youngest two are always exploding with excitement to get the tree and all the decorations up (I talked about that here).

When your daughter is a Christmas elf and it’s her birthday weekend… this happens. 🎄 Also, Christmas music. 📻👯

A photo posted by Dean 👌🏽 (@mrs_aok) on Nov 8, 2015 at 2:33pm PST

Decorating the tree is a full contact sport here and everyone is in on it.

(Trying to light the tree evenly is always a problem for us. Do you have any tips? He was working hard to get the lights evened out. I was busy supervising the effort.) Here’s my tip for you: string your lights on a hanger it makes things easier for storage and for wrapping the tree. 

I helped too, but of course there isn’t a picture of me to prove it.

What goes on the tree?

Just about everything! The kids have made a thousand ornaments over the years, we’ve  been given plenty of family ornaments, and our tree is heavily stocked with Hallmark ornaments too. This year was the first year we kind of scaled back on the ornaments. It also helps that the kids have their own trees and we have a smaller tree in the kitchen to help with a little overflow.

The red rectangle ornament is actually from Leavenworth, it has a Santa image and Leavenworth engraved on it.

Red glittery snowflakes are all over our tree, which leads to a dusting of glitter everywhere including ornaments. 🙂

 

Happy #StNicholasDay!

A video posted by Dean 👌🏽 (@mrs_aok) on Dec 6, 2014 at 6:45am PST

Back to the TREE

Because my babies all have allergies we can’t have a real tree, so I always buy an evergreen candle and light it while we decorate the tree. 😀

A tip for your faux tree: for those bare spots wrap evergreen garland around your tree and stick in artificial pine stems. I purchased a few from the floral section with pinecones and added them in the bare spots, I love the outcome. 

Melt my heart. ❤️ It IS the most wonderful time of the year. 💚

A photo posted by Dean 👌🏽 (@mrs_aok) on Nov 26, 2016 at 8:45pm PST

Final Tip:

Have fun! You don’t have to be Pinterest perfect when it comes to your tree, especially if you have kids. Let your kids get creative with decorating. Savor these special moments with them. You can rearrange and get Pinterest-y later. There’s no present like the present… I think that’s how that goes.  🙂

Don’t forget to check out the other bloggers’ posts to see their trees and maybe get a few pointers. 🙂

What’s your favorite local holiday attraction? If you have a Christmas tree, how do you decorate it? Do you have a favorite ornament?

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