Milspouse Holiday Blog Swap!

Hello, my lovely readers! Today I - along with several other Milies - am participating in a holiday blog swap hosted by the lovely Wife on the Roller Coaster! I'm very excited to be participating in this lovely little holiday-themed event! As I said before, a bunch of Milies are swapping blogs today so be sure to click this cute little button and check out all the swapping that's going on! 

I have the pleasure of hosting Mrs. P from A Little Pink in a World of Camo today! When I got word she'd be taking over my blog for a day, I was a little more than excited. ;-) I've been reading her blog for only...forever, and I love connecting with my favorite bloggers! She's prepared a great post for you guys today, so be sure to leave her lots of love here! 


And don't worry, you're not missing out on what I have to say about the holidays. You can check my post out over at Max & Kaylee. {Thanks for hosting me, Kaylee!}

Now, without further ado, here is Mrs. P's post. Merry Christmas!!

The Places of Christmas

It's no secret that I have been on the go-go lately. Most recently, I've been in the Lake Geneva area of Wisconsin, the glitzy city of Los Angeles California, and my home town of Aberdeen, Maryland.  I would really like to share with you the difference in decoration but still the presence of holiday cheer in Wisconsin and Los Angeles.

For Wisconsin, I happened to be there the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and a few days after. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Wisconsin embraced the holiday spirit early and whole heartedly. Lights were already appearing on houses in the days nearing Thanksgiving. For an area that is much less urban than what I am used to it was surely lit up like a city. My nearly two year old daughter loved the lights, it is so exciting to watch her face lighting up just as much as the lights make the houses sparkle. We were only there a few days after Thanksgiving, but the town really came to life as soon as one holiday was over, it was embracing the next. As a resort town, Lake Geneva's many inns, spas, and resorts came alive with holiday spirit. These grand buildings were decked out head to toe (er… roof to sidewalk?) in lights announcing Christmas is on it's way! The little towns were even adorned with lights and garlands on awnings and street lights, almost like something you'd see in a Christmas storybook. My favorite by far was the Geneva Grand resort. Upon entering the Geneva Grand, a lit sign welcomed you with the message "Christmas in the Country." As you drive up toward the main building, you pass all sorts of lighted holiday friends. As we went by the lighted 12 days of Christmas, we all sang along. We saw an elf summersaulting onto a house, a reindeer jumping over a pond, Santa golfing, and a holiday castle, to name a few more. At the end of the drive of lights, we reached the main building that was elegantly done in white lights with touches of blue. In front of the main building was a huge Christmas tree that, of course, we had to take pictures in front of. The good part was we got to pass through the drive of lights on the way back out to the main road and pass all the houses lit up on the way back home. The last evening we were there, a light snowfall took over the area and I got to see what all the hype was with "you should see the lights when it snows." Beauty doesn't even touch it, and the spirit of Christmas shone from the buildings and reflected in the falling flakes. It was our trip to Wisconsin that really started getting me into the holiday spirit and start decorating my own home.

During my trip to LA, I was surprised with all the holiday spirit in that city. I kind of mistakenly assumed that a city like Los Angeles, in sunny California, would be lackluster on the holiday decor and I was happily proven wrong. It wasn't the classic and timeless decorations that graced Wisconsin, but a more modern Christmas/holiday spirit that seemed to thrive in this city. As we drove the roads of downtown LA, the trees were lit in a bluish/white light with little lights the seemed to be falling from the trees (one of the coolest light tricks I've seen and I wish I could copy it for my own decorations). It was like tiny stars dripping in the trees and was really cool. In LA Live! there was a carnival set up (which is more of a summery activity to me) but a very neat addition to this carnival was the ice skating rink. I was super surprised to see ice skating outside in LA. Even though it was pretty chilly the weekend we were there, it was still a pleasant surprise and I loved watching the skaters, even some in tee-shirts twirling around the ice. In the middle of the carnival was a neon lit Christmas tree, definitely not traditional Christmas but still pretty cool. In my hotel, there was a huge Christmas tree with presents collected by the Marine Reserves for Toys for Tots. That was one of the first things I saw when I arrived at the hotel, in fact, was the Marines standing there collecting the toys beneath this ginormous tree. In another corner of the hotel lobby was a huge menorah with blue and silver packages underneath. None of the lights were lit yet, but I think it's safe to assume they will light one on each day of Hannukah (at least, that'd be the cool thing to do). While it was a less traditional Christmas scene than I might be used to, even Los Angeles was all decked out for the holidays. 

Being in these cities has really prepped me for the holidays. I'm so excited to get home and finally get our  decorations up and our Christmas on in our house. I bet the baby will be super excited when it's done, too, because she LOVES Christmas decorations, we've learned. I am also inspired by tons of hand made Christmas decorations and gifts on Pinterest. I can not wait to get started. I hope everyone out there is having fun getting all decked out in the holiday spirit, I'd love to see what you've done (and maybe steal some of your ideas - just saying')!

Big thanks to Mrs. G.I. Joe for letting me have a bit of her space today and patiently dealing with my horrible procrastination. You rock girl!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a prosperous New Year to you all!!

Semper Fi,

Mrs. P