Bird business: Christmas Eve

School got out Thursday December 22nd. The kids were ready to party and celebrate! I packed some food to eat in the car and we headed out to see the lights at the zoo. We first headed to Brookfield Zoo, where I had 8 free tickets, but for some weird reason, they were closed. We were not the only ones to be surprised by this discovery for as we started heading for Lincoln Park Zoo, we followed the same line of cars for an HOUR! Lincoln Park Zoo was so crowded, the parkling lot was full, and the traffic was backed up for miles before the exit off of the freeway!!!! Luckily, I'd rented the new Disney Christmas Carol (with Jim Carrey) so we ate our sandwiches and watched our movie in the van while Steve dealt with the traffic. (What a man!) But...

It was worth the wait.

Steve dropped us off near the front entrance so that we could be enjoying the lights while he found a parking spot and as he started to drive by, someone was pulling out of the center parking spot! What a Tender mercy for our family! We had a wonderful time Oooohing and Aaaaahing at the lights all over the zoo--together.

I read a book called A Christ-Centered Christmas that offers suggestions for traditions to help one's family feel the true meaning of Christmas. One suggestion was to start a new tradition or do something different each year to represent the wise men and how they, after meeting the Christ child, "went a different way." This was our new tradition.

Carter thought it was so cool to have the lights choreographed to the music.

"The BIRD House"

This Aardvark was awesome. A mouse had sneaked into his home and he was like a dog trying to figure out where it was. He was digging, burrowing, pouncing, pointing, etc. The giraffe in the neighboring "cubicle" even came over and stretched his neck over the wall to see what was going on.

Penguins are always cool, but especially in the winter.

So romantic!

Friday, we built our gingerbread houses. I had found Dark Chocolate-Peppermint houses and thought if anyone was going to make this, it had to be me. We made it a contest: girls vs. boys. Girls won.

Braxton could tell that although their house held for the picture, it would never last.

Here are the houses 5 minutes later.

Girls still rule!

Christmas Eve was great! Uncle Ryan and Aunt Julene came over. Also, a Relief Society President from when Steve served his mission in Texas got to come with her hubby. They are currently serving a mission here in Chicago. After a surprise run-in at the temple, we reconnected and were thrilled when they accepted the invitation to share our night with us! We had tons of good food and all got to take part in the nativity.

Uncle Ryan got into his part as Angel Gabriel and was making his message known to Zacharias and Elizabeth.