Tis the season for tree lightings!

Although the outside temperatures more closely resemble Chicago in January, Thanksgiving is really less than a week away.  The arrival of Thanksgiving brings a ton of crazy shoppers, but more importantly, it traditionally marks the start of the holiday season.  Lake County is home to fabulous communities - to Villages and Cities who make a remarkable effort to provide an abundance of fabulously fun events for residents.  Many of the communities structure several hours of activities around their tree lighting ceremonies, with quite a few including parades, Santa's arrival, and performances by student bands and choirs.  And, these events help stretch your holiday budget farther - they are all FREE!

Lake County Community Lighting Festivals begin this weekend, and continue on into December. Here are some dates to mark on your calendar (for more details, visit the Lake County blog by clicking here):

November 22
Highland Park 3-5

November 28
Antioch 6-8
Fox Lake 6:30
Grayslake 5:30-8
Lake Forest 3:30-7
Libertyville 7
Round Lake Beach 6

November 29
Fox Lake Parade 11am
Lake Villa 5-7
Lake Zurich 4-6
Vernon Hills 4:30

December 5
Hawthorn Woods 6
Mundelein 6:30-8
Wauconda 6

December 6
Barrington 1-6:30
Island Lake 6
Lindenhurst 4:30-6
Round Lake 2-6
Waukegan 10-6
Winthrop Harbor 4:30

December 7
Lincolnshire 5:30-6:30

Thank you. Today and Everyday.

The best 2:32 you can spend today...

Wow.  What an amazing young woman.  To not only identify a problem and create a band-aid, but to actually come up with an amazing solution.  Heart-warming for all the right reasons. #WomenInspire  

Watch the short video here

Today's heartwarming video...

I know that we aren't supposed to believe everything we hear.  Or read.  Or see on social media.  Sometimes the stories and photos are real.  Sometimes they are exaggerated.  Sometimes they are created for the sake of advertising.  Sometimes they are are mix of all three.  And sometimes we are exposed to a photo or story that touches us, and we don't care which it is.  Sometimes we just want to, and need to, believe that what we are looking at really happened. 

This video is one of those.  It happens to be an ad, however it is heartwarming and conveys a message.  And hope.  And I love watching it.

Enjoy...