Silver Lining: the holidays are officially here: Lighting of the Riverwoods 2012

One of my favorite holiday traditions is to go to Christmas tree lightings.

Growing up in Portland, I loved going to Pioneer Courthouse Square when they lit up the tree.

Now, I go to the lighting of the Riverwoods. Tons of people come, and there's a big hullabaloo when the lights turn on and Santa rides in on a sleigh {Christmas is all about Santa, children}.Then, everyone wanders around in a jolly mess of window shopping and children licking the ice sculptures and free cookies. To me, it officially marks the beginning of the holidays.

This year, we went with our friends the Bennetts and their cute bundled-up baby. There may or may not have been an incident in Blickenstaff's where we wound up all the toy chicks and had races with them. Don't tell the management it was us.

The bundled-up baby herself (who gets to go to Disneyland this week! How lucky is that?)

Look! It's our cousin Matt! Doing all his official Riverwoods photographer business. And while we're on the topic, I want to let it be known to the public that Matt's hair has magical properties.

They had an awesome gingerbread house competition.

I'm trying to wean myself off the automatic settings in my camera. It's a slow process, but it was fun to experiment in the low light. Even though sometimes it means "Sam! Go stand under that tree while I try five different ISO settings!"

All in all, the Riverwoods lighting makes us feel like the holiday season has begun. Bring on the peppermint hot chocolate and the sledding!