Holidays in a Small Town

Sometimes I forget that we live in a small town, because it is surrounded by a really big suburb, but today we were reminded of why living somewhere with only 2,000 or so citizens is so much fun! All three of us were out putting up our Christmas lights, when we see policemen, the firetruck, and people in elf hats walking down the street during a little Christmas parade! And guess who was on the firetruck? Santa! And he had candy treats for all the kids! I was so excited we were out at just the right time. Meredith quickly came to see when we told her it was Santa, but then she got a little scared when he got a little too close. Even though she was crying and pretty scared, my polite little girl still managed to choke out a "thank you" to Santa for the treats. Santa was very patient with Meredith and tried to change her opinion of him, but I think we still have some work to do before we try to sit on his lap!

You would think candy might be a bribe to not be scared, but not for Meredith!
Progress- she actually let Santa reassure her!

After finishing up the lights (or as many as we could before we ran out!) we had a quick dinner and headed down to the park that is up the street from us for the Christmas tree lighting - a fun activity with popcorn, face painting, pictures with Santa (we didn't push two visits in one day), and of course the lighting of the tree!

All the kids get to hold a rope and pull to make the lights come on. You could tell that the kids that have done this for many years love this - they were lined up for a long time to get as close to the tree as possible! Meredith keeps talking about it too, so I know it is something she will be looking forward every year!
Showing Meredith the lights that she helped light up by pulling the rope.
The tree all lit up!