Merry Blogmas! Day 9 Local Holiday Attractions {12 Days, 12 Blogs + 1 Huge Giveaway}
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Leavenworth, Washington and Trees on Parade

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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.

Merry Blogmas! Day 9 Local Holiday Attractions {12 Days, 12 Blogs + 1 Huge Giveaway}

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!

Christkindlemarket Parade Leavenworth WA

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

Visit Leavenworth:Christkindlmarket Leavenworth WA

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

Gingerbread Factory Leavenworth, WA.

Lights in Leavenworth WA

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…

 

Christmas Tress on Parade: I'm sharing my Christmas Tree along with a few other bloggers. Come take a peek into our homes for the holidays.

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).


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

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

Christmas Trees on Parade: My Christmas Tree

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.  🙂

Christmas Trees on Parade: Christmas Tree Reveal

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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22 thoughts on “Leavenworth, Washington and Trees on Parade

  1. Lauren

    December 8, 2016 at 7:21 am

    Sweet! It looks like you have a lot of cute sentimental ornaments on your Christmas tree! Enjoy the holidays!

    1. MrsA0K2001

      December 8, 2016 at 12:47 pm

      Yes we do have quite a few sentimental ornaments, they’re my favorite to unwrap when we decorate the tree every year. 🙂
      Happy Holidays, Lauren!
      XO

  2. Mandy

    December 8, 2016 at 9:48 am

    I agree that it’s so important to be present and not worry about being Pinterest Perfect! Beautiful ornaments. I love the snowmen on the sled. Hope your family has a very Merry Christmas!

    1. MrsA0K2001

      December 8, 2016 at 12:48 pm

      Thank you, Mandy! The snowmen sled ornanment is one of my favorites too. I kind of have a thing for snowmen ornaments and decorations. 🙂
      Wishing you and your family the happiest holidays!!!
      XOXO

  3. Terri

    December 8, 2016 at 9:57 am

    I love seeing your family decorate the tree and be so involved. My husband is ok with tree decorating, but it’s not his highlight of the year!

    1. MrsA0K2001

      December 8, 2016 at 12:51 pm

      Thank you, Terri, I love seeing them decorate the tree too. We always play Christmas music and watch a Christmas movie while we decorate and clean up. It’s the best.
      My husband was getting frustrated with the lights….. or his supervisor. 😀
      xoxo

  4. Terri

    December 8, 2016 at 9:57 am

    Oh, and thank you for joining me on this first Christmas Tree Parade. I am having a blast seeing all the trees!

    1. MrsA0K2001

      December 8, 2016 at 12:52 pm

      Thank YOU for putting this all together for us!! I loved checking out everyone’s trees.
      XOXO

  5. Tamara

    December 8, 2016 at 4:52 pm

    See, now I really want to hear about the drive back!!
    That sorting hat ornament is like the best thing I’ve ever seen.
    And I’m a mountain town girl. I can almost smell it through the photos, and feel the air!

  6. Shelby

    December 8, 2016 at 6:21 pm

    I love how involved your family is. That is always my favorite part of decorating the tree too. Even though it’s just me and my husband this year (at least until Christmas Eve) I HAD to wait for him to get home to decorate the tree.

  7. Tessa

    December 8, 2016 at 8:01 pm

    I love that box full of ornaments as you were decorating! And gorgeous tree and photos <3

  8. Akaleistar

    December 8, 2016 at 9:32 pm

    Your tree is so pretty! I’m allergic to pine, too, so I love the idea about using artificial pine stems to fill in 🙂

  9. Bev

    December 9, 2016 at 7:14 am

    Oh I remember you posting about Leavenworth last year and thought how cool it would be to go there. Thanks for the reminder, I may have to check it out when I’m in Seattle in a couple weeks!
    I love how your family does so much together for the holidays. I bet the tree-decorating is quite special for you guys 🙂

  10. Jill

    December 9, 2016 at 10:35 pm

    Leavenworth looks like such a cute little town and what beautiful scenery! Your tree is so pretty and I love that everyone pitches in! My daughter is getting to the age where she only wants to do her tree in her room!

    Jill
    Doused In Pink

  11. Amber Myers

    December 11, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    How fun! I’d love to visit there!

    And decorating the tree is always a blast.

  12. Carrie @ Curly Crafty Mom

    December 11, 2016 at 3:57 pm

    What a beautiful town, I love the mountains! We have a pre-lit tree and I am not sure I could ever go back to stringing lights, but some people LOVE to do it that way! Your family photos always make me smile, I can tell you all have so much fun together. 🙂

    Carrie
    curlycraftymom.com

  13. Amber Nelson

    December 11, 2016 at 4:37 pm

    Your tree is really pretty! What a beautiful time of the year. Such a festive area!

  14. Mary

    December 11, 2016 at 7:31 pm

    It looks like you guys had a great time decorating your tree and it looks beautiful. Thank you for the snow pictures, living in Northern California we don’t see any snow, but I’m not complaining.

  15. Sonya

    December 13, 2016 at 10:23 pm

    Beautiful tree!!!! I have to remember the tip about the lights on hangers. I always dislike having to untangle the Christmas lights.
    Leavenworth looks like a fun place to visit during the holidays.

  16. Charlotte

    December 14, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    I want to go to this little German Christmas village–looks so beautiful! And I bet the smells were delicious. My family is German and I’ve always wanted to go for the holidays… I’ve heard so many beautiful things about those markets and the gorgeous hand-made wares! I love also that you knew the words to O, Tannenbaum first 🙂

    Your tree is beautiful and thanks for the tip re: bare spots. Ours is starting to show its age, ha! Love all of your ornaments!!

  17. The Mad Mommy

    December 4, 2017 at 8:42 am

    I love your tree and your ornaments! We have a fake tree too, but I love your garland tip!!! Leavenworth looks so cool! We just went to something similar, but smaller I think, in Duluth!

  18. Lissette

    December 10, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    What a gorgeous little town! I think I may have to add that to my bucket list!

    My son also went a little crazy about getting the tree and decorations up. He insists on decorating for every holiday, but this year for Halloween, we were traveling a lot and I just didn’t have time to decorate the house. So when Thanksgiving came and went, well, he insisted on making sure everything was decorated *right now*. Your decorations look great!

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