Today marks the first of December and the long anticipated beginning of our Daily December activities!! Here's what Eliana opened up this morning...
Every day we have a different activity to lead up to Christmas. Tonight we went to the Christmas Stroll!!
Two factors played into our timing for the Christmas Stroll this year. First, I was downtown for our Mary Kay Holiday Open House at the Studio from 9-4. Second, MSU was playing in the playoffs and Leif wanted to watch the game, which started at 5:30. Since the Stroll begins at 4:30, we hit the very beginning of it. It wasn't even dark yet, which was a first for us! We started by strolling down Main Street from the Studio. It wasn't crowded at all, which was nice!!
We got sidetracked by a live nativity on our way to find food...
Eliana was particularly enthralled by the baby goats.
Then we strolled off to find some food. Ellie was STARVING (as only a hungry child can dramatize), so she and I shared some pizza. I also got some fry bread. Leif opted for some food from Blackbird, a local restaurant we have been planning to visit.
It was while we were waiting for Leif's food that I noticed just how warm it was tonight... See the sign in the background? Yeah.... It's December 1st. We should be colder than that.
As we walked down Main Street a little further, we noticed that some of the "spider" lights were lit. I have always heard that Santa goes down main street lighting the decorations for the year, but we've never actually seen it happen. How exciting!!
"Let's get closer!" Eliana said, "I want to see Santa light the lights!" So we moved closer. Eliana still couldn't see Santa, so I let her climb onto my back to get a better look.
This was taken just before Santa "lit" the lights, and then proceeded to try to run us over with his horse-drawn sleigh! I was not prepared for that, nor was I prepared for the hoard of people following Santa who tried to trample us as they continued on the lighting march! I've never considered myself squeamish of crowds, but I did not like that one bit! We were heading the wrong direction in a sea of people and I had a 50 lb child on my back! Ack! Now I remember why we avoid events where Santa is present...
Once we regained our senses and felt comfortable swimming upstream again, we continued on our quest for cotton candy, a treat we told Eliana she could have after she at some real food. Leif had given Eliana $2 for cotton candy and she was excited to spend it!
So there she waited in line, visions of spun sugar dancing in her head.
Finally, she got to the stand and purchased her cotton candy. That was one happy girl!!
Leif departed to go watch the football game, but Eliana wanted to stay "until it was night." So she and I strolled a bit more as the sky grew dark. As we strolled, we got to see a couple people juggling fire, which was cool!
Then we headed home, happy with our time at the Christmas Stroll. What a wonderful event to get out, celebrate the holidays, spend time with the community, and connect with friends! We love it!
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