Lights Before Christmas & Thanksgiving Weekend

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In recent years one of my favorite things to do during the Holiday season is visit the Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo. For various reasons we haven’t made it since Little Man was born so I was incredibly excited that the weather held out and we were able to sneak it in over our Thanksgiving travels.

Certain Holidays mean travel for us and Thanksgiving this year was no exception. I adore the family time but it also means a lot of car time. This year we stocked up on Animal Mechanicals and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes for Little Man, A League of Her Own and In the Unlikely Event for Mommy and a lot of good radio stations for Daddy. We were ready to roll.

Thursday we spent time with my husband’s family down in southern Indiana. Usually one of the many photographers, I didn’t take a single picture all day. We had a day full of good food, laughs, catching up on the last two years, snuggling with the new babies & fun board games. By the time we left the kids were exhausted and the adults were stuffed.

A short little nap on the way to the hotel was all the kids needed before round two of entertainment. With a toddler who is terrified of pools we just hung out for awhile. There were iPad games, White Castle (the only thing opened Thanksgiving night), a few bottles of wine & a wonderful evening that kept us entertained. Midnight comes around a lot faster than you expect it to!

Friday we were back in the car and headed up to Northwest Ohio for more family fun with my mom. More turkey awaited us as we made our game plan for some Saturday shopping. I can honestly say the only Black Friday shopping we did was online, but I am more than okay with it. To arrive home Sunday evening and have almost all of our packages was well worth it.

My mom and I like to participate in Small Business Saturday when we can. We are both knitters so it usually means that there is a trip to the yarn store as well as a few other stops along the way. I am excited about the Malabrigo I came home with!

On Saturday evening we headed over to the Toledo Zoo for the Lights Before Christmas around 3:30pm and it was the perfect time to start our trip around the zoo. If you are heading to see the Lights Before Christmas, I highly recommend going early.

Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo

The crowd didn’t really get too big until after 6:00 so we were able to see most of the lights, get dinner and see Santa without much of a wait. I would highly recommend going early if you go. By the time we finished eating our dinner the whole zoo was lit up and ready to enjoy.

Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo

The dancing trees are always one of my favorite spots to stop at the Lights Before Christmas. With Christmas music, Christmas lights and families dancing around you can’t help but get in the Holiday spirit. Unfortunately the aquarium was closed for a wedding so we weren’t able to sneak inside. This year they added an ice slide, but Little Man didn’t meet the height requirements so we’ve added it to our to do list for next year.

We did managed to see Santa (who knew that my mom was a personal friend) and Little Man will admit that he said absolutely nothing. He was pretty excited afterwards and I think was more in awe than anything. It is safe to say he is still waiting for his Robo Truck.

Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo

The Toledo Zoo always puts on an amazing show with the Lights Before Christmas and I would highly recommend it if you are in the Northwest Ohio area. It has very quickly become one of my favorite traditions that we do every few years. Plus, their hot chocolate is pretty awesome too.

Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo

The rest of our weekend was uneventful and full of random Christmas decorating and planning for the week ahead. The weekend was a long one but worth every minute. I love all of the family time we were able to sneak in.

Although, I definitely hit the treadmill when we got home Sunday night. I have spent the last 6 days carb loading so it was time for a good 5 mile run. There are zero regrets that I have from the weekend but there is a lot of fruit and salad in my future this week.

How was your Thanksgiving weekend?
Have you ever been to a light show at your zoo?

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links.

Comments (16)

  1. Hi Kristin, How fun … We have a similar event here in Austin called the Trail of Lights. But it’s not at a zoo, that’s so pretty!

    1. The lights were amazing! Gotta do what ya gotta do to get though a car ride!

    1. I love finding other knitters!!! I’m so glad you stopped by! I’m working on merging all of my knitting posts over but eventually I’ll get more knitting posts up! How long have you been knitting?

    1. Always feels good to get back on track after a rough weekend. One of these days I’ll learn to just stick with it!

  2. That is so cool! I love Christmas lights! The Brookfield Zoo in Chicago has Zoo Lights, but I never got to see them the whole time I lived in Chicago! I am hoping to see them at the Oregon Zoo this year.
    Angel the Alien recently posted…End Of NovemberMy Profile

    1. I’ve never seen the ones at Brookfield Zoo but I have heard wonderful things about them!

    1. Seeing the Holiday’s through a toddlers eyes has been AMAZING and we are still a few weeks out from Christmas!

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