Christmas festivities have begun...

As soon as December 1st rolled around I was ready for Christmas action! I wanted to be involved in everything that was going on! When I heard about Vancouver's amazing German Christmas market I was super excited! 

So we headed there, actually even before December 1st, on the last weekend in November! and I was ready to have some festive fun.  I figured we'd be there for at least a couple of hours so we got there early.  I'm not sure if I was expecting Winter Wonderland proportions, but we ended up seeing the whole thing in around 15 minutes! 

It was pretty disappointing I thought...

but I did get a tasty bratwurst,

By got a schnitzel

and we got some hot apple cider in this Vancouver painted mug that we got to keep! 

Plus we got to see this giant horn so not all was lost! 

In my mind it didn't matter too much because later that night we were heading to 'Candytown'.  A Christmas festival in one of the neighbourhoods downtown known as Yaletown.  It had been advertised as something major...that the trendy neighbourhood would be turned into a winter wonderland with twinkling lights and giant candy canes, plus an awesome Christmas market for all your holiday gift shopping! 

Unfortunately, these ice sculptures were as good as it got! 

Unless I wanted to join up for a Costco membership or buy a piece of fudge from the handful of stalls that made up the 'All I want for Christmas Street Market', then that was kind of a letdown! They had free horse drawn carriage rides too but the queue was around the block and over 100 people long! 

So with no giant candy canes in sight, we looked at the ice sculptures, took a picture by this sign and headed home! (Why they would choose Torquay out of all the places in England is beyond me! random!)

I was beginning to think I just needed to lower my expectations for Christmas fun here in Vancouver! but fortunately the Christmas tree farm pulled through! We headed out to H&M tree farm last Saturday after hiring out this pick up truck! 

I had heard you could cut down your own tree, which sounded amazing! 

So we got there and found fields and fields full of Christmas trees, varying types and varying sizes! It was tough to choose because there were just SO many! 

We got right down to business by grabbing a saw on the way in!

By was designated lumberjack for the day...since he's the forester after all!

I had my eye on these 10 foot beauties! but I'm thinking we would have been there a while sawing through those fat trunks!

In the end we settled on this little guy and By got to work,

it was easier than I thought it would be and in no time at all we were in the 'line up', as they say here in Canada! ready to pay for our tree!

but the excitement didn't end there...oh no!

because we got free hot dogs, and free hot apple cider! They sure do love to give free stuff away here :) I was especially in love with these giant ketchup tins they kept the skewers in!

The coolest part about the free hot dogs was getting to roast them yourself around the campfire!

If only I'd brought a stash of graham crackers and marshmallows in my pocket! It was also a nice way to warm up after we'd spent quite a while browsing for the perfect tree and had got pretty chilly!

Once the frankies were sufficiently toasted, we loaded them up into their buns and chowed down.  

Those of you who know me well will know just how important a real Christmas tree is to me each year,  if you don't know I spoke about it last year here.  I've always loved Christmas tree farms the best, but the fact we actually got to pick and chop the tree down too will certainly be a tree picking experience I won't forget in a hurry!

Now if only the rest of the Christmas fun would live up to the hype, I'd be a very happy girl indeed!