I really love all the lights at Christmastime, and ove the past few days I have been having the best time! Over the weekend we drove up to Leavenworth, Washington. This is a Bavarian village and every year they have a Christmas lights festival. The whole village looks like something right out of Germany. There are lots of shops and restaurants. It's really quaint and beautiful. The lighting ceremony is wonderful. There is music and a procession that starts from either end of town. As the procession comes down the street, they "light" each storefront as they pass by until they meet in the center opposite the large tree and gazebo. At this point all the stores are lit up with the most beautiful lights. Then they proceed to the gazebo and light all the enormous trees in the park.It is really spectacular! Here is link with a picture of a bit of the town...all lit up: http://www.leavenworth.com

Then, last night we headed to the zoo for the annual zoolights display. (they also have zoolights at Halloween!) You can walk throughout the zoo and the light displays are phenomenal. There is also a train ride that takes you through some of the zoo and that'a also fun. Here is a link to see a bit of what zoolights is all about: http://www.oregonzoo.com/Events/Zoolights/preview.htm

Tonight, my daughter is flying in from Boston to spend a few days with us. I don't know how much stitching I will get done, but I am really looking forward to seeing her! We are on vacation this week, so we will have some time to spend doing fun things.

Stitching goals for the week were to finish my monthly block exchange piece...this month is a house design,and to finish my oldest UFO - Paula Vaughan's January Quilt for All Seasons. I did finish the block, but don't know how far I'll get onthe other piece. We'll see!