toronto christmas market

We took a trip to the Toronto Christmas Market at the Distillery District on Monday night. Last year we went in the daytime, but after seeing photos of how magical it looked at night I thought that this year we'd try to make it right as the sun was setting.  It was magical. Oscar did two carousel rides, one train ride, had a grilled cheese sandwhich, met Santa, listened to carols and ran around the cobblestone streets ringing his big gold bell that he brought for the occasion (which you can spot in one of the photos above).

I'm finding getting into Christmas a little bit hard this year - which I know is understandable. Our house isn't really decorated for the season and I'm not feeling any urgency to pull out the decor - but the magic of Christmas really came back seeing the excitement through Oscar tonight. Plus, it's hard not to feel festive when you see Santa, hear carols, and you're outside with twinkling lights all around you. It really is a gorgeous spot to visit.

Tips: We went around 4:00pm when the light was starting to fade. Although it's likely not the case on weekends we had no problems finding parking and Oscar didn't have to wait in a line for Santa. 

bits + pieces

So much has happened over the last few weeks and I have yet to really write about much of it. I blame it on getting a monster cold that knocked me off my feet and being totally focused on work. So here is a roundup of the last weeks events...

1. We celebrated Oscar's half birthday. Yes. We celebrate half birthdays. We love reasons to celebrate (and eat cake)
2. Home Depot sent me some of their Martha Stewart holiday ornaments.  I love the collection they sent because of the faux round pine cones.
3. Aubrey finished the front hall tile!
4. Thanks to Shoana for featuring my mini cotton bags + Free advent printable on Cityline last week. Sales of the little bags went crazy!
5. We took Oscar to his first rock concert. Raffi!!! 
6. Oscar was star struck. Maybe I was a little too. It brought back a lot of memories from my childhood. 
7. I attended a Brother Printer event thanks to Yummy Mummy Club and Sarah Gunn. We were gifted a gorgeous printer. Because I have a huge monster printer of my own that I use for my shop, I gave the printer to my Mom - who had been saying for awhile that she needed a new printer. She was super excited. :) 
8. The lovely ladies, Sarah and Leigh-Anne have been so kind in supporting my little shop - Sarah used one of my stamps on Cityline and Leigh-Anne has a few cool projects that she's been working on for the show. Had a great time hanging out with them at the Brother event (picture no.7) even though I was McSneezy. 

That I think brings me up to date on what has been going on in my life. :)