Neighborhood Tree Lighting

One of the things we love about where we live is all of the fun family oriented events they plan throughout the year.  It's especially fun around Christmas time.  To kick off the Christmas celebrations we attended the tree lighting ceremony complete with a children's choir, pictures in a sled, free hot cocoa and chocolate fondue, crafts for the kids and a visit from Santa.  I started the evening husbandless but he was there not too long after we  arrived.  After about 20 minutes I grabbed my camera to take a picture and it wasn't working.  I figured I had it on a strange setting but no, the battery was dead!  Are you kidding me??  Of course I didn't bring my camera bag so I had no back up battery, I was only left with the camera on my phone which isn't the best for pictures at night.  Luckily, Jason was nice enough to make up for my airheadedness and drove home to get the spare battery.  While he was gone Ashley had a cup of cocoa and some chocolate fondue and I think she thought she had died and gone to heaven.  Hot chocolate with "whoop cream"!  Rice Crispie treats, brownies, strawberries and marshmallows to dip in chocolate??  She kept looking at me like she was waiting for me to take it away and say it was all a joke or something, but at the holidays I say enjoy the treats!

I tried to get some pictures with the kids, since I'm normally behind the camera, a few came out but it's hard to get two kids looking in the right direction at the same time!

When Santa came around the town square Ashley's face lit up and she reminded me of a teenager at a concert.  She had her hands in the air, she was clapping, waving and had the biggest smile ever, it was sweet.  She was almost as excited about the countdown to Santa lighting the tree and when those lights came on she was mesmerized.

After all of the excitement we headed to the craft table and daddy helped Ashley make a mitten ornament, this is why I love this man so much!  He was elbow deep in glitter, jewels and gems, glue and ribbon... it made me smile.

Then we ran into our good friends, the Shwams and Moysas and let the kids hang out together for about ten minutes before all of the adults agreed it was beyond freezing and headed home.  It was a wonderful way to start the Christmas season and something we will look forward to each year.