'tis the season

Our Thanksgiving included a touch of Christmas.

Snowflakes actually fell, and sort of stuck to the already-wet ground, on Thanksgiving night. Then we went to a Christmas parade, shopped a craft fair and toured a Christmas lights display while in and around Highland, Ill., where my brother-in-law John and sister-in-law Christine live. We spent Friday and Saturday there.

Cate, of course, enjoyed being with her 6-month-old cousin Mae Rose.

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We bundled up for a nighttime Christmas parade that turned out to be one of the best parades I've seen. And I've seen a lot of parades. This parade included a fire-breathing dragon, fake snow from a float, several lit-up floats and Santa on a traveling rooftop.

Cate has seen enough parades to know what to do. Wave. And collect candy.

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Cate rode a camel, which was one of the activities at Our Lady of the Snows, which also included Christmas lights that told the story of Jesus' birth. Ben wanted to ride too ...

And then we ate kettle corn while driving through the display ...