Parade and Tamale Festival

Bundled up and waiting for the parade to start.

Levi and Hailey.

Derek tickling the girls.

Daddy and Gracie.

Here come the marching bands!

Faith gives a clap.

Pretty ribbons.

Good friends.

More marching bands.

Morgan took the girls on the ferris wheel.

Faith enjoying her corn.

Great festival food.

This year, we were joined by some friends for the annual parade and Tamale Festival. All the kids loved the parade and managed to withstand the cold.

I think it was in the low 50's all morning! That's cold for us, folks! As usual, it was fun to taste the award winning tamales. The girls gobbled them up too so we enjoyed some for lunch and also brought a dozen home. You gotta love hometown parades and festivals. Even better when you can share it with good friends!

Tree Lighting Ceremony

Daddy and his girls.

Mommy and Faith.

Ho, ho ho!

Snoopy and the gang.

Our family.

Watching the Christmas carolers.

The woman in the front row (second to the right) pulled out a camera and snapped a picture of the girls while she was singing!

This is the 3rd year in a row that we've attended our city's tree lighting ceremony. We started the evening at Fisherman's Market & Grill were we enjoyed some delicious clam chowder. It was so yummy and a great way to start off the chilly evening. This was, however, the first year that we actually made it in time to see the tree lighting. We just happened to be standing right in front of Santa's chair so guess who ended up being at the front of the line to take a picture with Santa? Another FUN night of experiencing the Christmas spirit!

Cookies with Santa

Ready to see Santa.

Two very GOOD girls.

Hey, who's that big kid that snuck in the picture?

Girlfriends.

Story time with Santa.

This Wednesday, my Mom2Mom group put on a morning of "Cookies with Santa" at our church. It was a fun time of visiting with friends, taking pictures, and an up close and personal chat with Santa. My girls love to take pictures with any characters so Santa is no exception. On the way there, Faith asked me if Santa was real. Since we don't do Santa in our house, I had to break it to the girls that he was not real. I explained how like Mickey Mouse, they will see him from time to time, especially around Jesus' birthday, but that he was not in fact, real. That answer seemed to suit them fine and they were perfectly content. I guess there is enough wonderment and fascination in their little 3 year-old lives for now. The funny part about their chat with Santa is when he asked them what they wanted for Christmas, they answered, "A cookie."

Santa was sure surprised by that answer! He said, "That's all? A cookie? Well, I'm sure that can be arranged." And so, the morning ended with story time and caroling and the girls got just what they wished for... a cookie.