Hometown Christmas

The past few days have been the most joyful, cozy, uplifting days we've enjoyed in ages.  The fact Mr. is going back to work plays a large part in that...what a relief!  Somehow the atmosphere is lighter, the days are brighter and burdens are lifted.  Thank you Lord!

We spent a good deal of time this weekend enjoying local sites and activities.  Saturday morning we attended the annual 'Angel Breakfast' at church, a family-centered breakfast with devotions and crafts for young children.  Both kids ate their fill of French toast and then spent an  hour making Christmas decorations and visiting with their former teachers and Sunday-classmates.  

Afterwards we went downtown to the former marketplace, toured the Heritage museum (free!) and then went to Santaland.  I must admit, it was amazing!  The walls were covered in black cloth and decorated with white lights and enormous snowflakes, so it felt like nighttime!  The Heritage center made gigantic cardboard prints of local historical sites, "cartooned" them and then covered them with snow and special lighting.  The results were absolutely enchanting.    

Naturally Santa and Mrs. Claus were waiting at the end of the tour.  And they were a very good Santa and Mrs. Claus.  Obviously grandparents.  They weren't pushy or aggressive, but very calm and nurturing.  It's the first time Isaac has ever had his picture taken with Santa...he's wanted nothing to do with the department store Santas and I think it's simply because they were so loud.  Not this one.  Isaac said this Santa is different. Said he must be from the South Pole. 

After church this morning, we went to the county fairgrounds for a model train show and the kids had a blast!  There were tons of vendors with scads of tables full of stuff that wasn't terribly interesting.  But then there were train displays.  Hundreds of yards of railway lines, dozens and dozens of trains and extremely creative scenery.  The highlight of the day was when an old conductor allowed Isaac to run the crane that dropped 'scrap' into a passing train.   

Mara isn't particularly interested in trains, but she enjoyed herself mightily watching the train set-ups and visiting with the vendors.  Especially the ones giving away free candy canes.  Yeah, those were her favorites :)

And the best part of our busy, hometown Christmas: tired kids sleep really, really well!  When 7pm rolled around, they were both in their footy-jammies, teeth brushed and ready to turn in.  That's simply the icing on the cake to a fabulous weekend!

What's your family enjoying this Christmas?