Winter Delight

 Day 1

Every year it seems that the Christmas season starts way too early!!! We barely got through Halloween and the Christmas had already hit the stores. I try really hard to ignore it. The unfortunate part is deals on Christmas decor and knickknacks usually start about the middle of November. I guess the theory is that all Christmas 'stuffs' should be in place before December 1st so one can enjoy the holidays in a state of calm and serene relaxation. (Whatever). I still try and put everything off until December 1st. The event that kicks it all off for us is the annual Winter event located in the park just down the street from us and put on by the local church group. They like to call it Winter Delight. We like to call it 'Time for a Horse Drawn Sleigh Ride'!!!!!!

 The key to getting the most out of this event is deciding just when to get to the park. The event is scheduled from  4-6pm. We got there at 3:45pm. Great timing. The horses were already making trips around the park. We beelined straight to the non-existant line up. Both kids had no problem getting themselves parked on the haybales on the sleigh. It was all very exciting!!

 It was so so very exciting that we finished the first ride just to line up for a second ride!!!!! Once again hitting the line-up when it was it was but a minimal wait. As we toured the park on our sleigh ride, it was already starting to get dark, and the christmas lights on some of the houses turned on. We waved hello to Hello Kitty and her buddies all decked up for Christmas. (Yes this is the last weekend in November that the church holds Winter Delight in the park. And yes, people already have their Christmas lights up!!!) After two sleigh rides it was time to hit the cookie bar. Such a chore to choose between chocolate chip, decorated christmas trees and gingerbread boy cookies. And yes, we must only choose one as there are alot of little people here will deserve cookies too. Lucky for us, as we munched away, someone spotted Santa approaching. We hustled...and we were second in line.



Time for a pep talk. Our experiences with Santa aren't all that successful. I wasn't expecting much. But Lil'Miss was determined that she was going to sit on Santa's knee this year. And she did. And promptly got stage fright. When asked what she wanted for Christmas, she just sat there shyly. In fact I'm not sure Santa really got an answer out of her. But that's ok. We'll try again another time.



No amount of pep talking was going to get the little guy on Santa's knee. But I did convince him to go up and 'yell' to Santa what he wanted for Christmas. The one thing about Mr.Mister is consistency. He asked for an airplane. Cropduster to be exact. He's been talking about getting an airplane for awhile now. I hope he gets really excited on Christmas day if he gets one. It would be perfect.

So with all bases now covered, it was time to hit the playground and go down the slides again, and again, and again, and again, and....you get the idea.  The slides were pretty fast that day. Little kids going airborne off the bottom a slide is comic relief and it's best. We were there awhile. It got darker, the park got more and more crowded. It was getting time to go home. So we posed for a couple more photo opportunities..........then Mr.Mister decided he should go on the horse drawn sleigh just one more time!!!!

                                          

I looked at the line up and cringed. It was soooooooo long. We walked over to the end of the line, I explained the art of 'waiting' to a 5 and 2 year old, and we waited. Eventually the line moved up towards the cookie bar. We indulged in another gingerbread boy and stared at the fire pit while we 'waited'.



                                          
And yes, we made it to one last sleigh ride, through the really dark park. At this point, the horse drawn tour had been shortened to accomodate the ridiculous amount of people waiting in line. Just another plus to arriving early when we did. But both the kids were happy, and we made it home without any crying or regret. We waved one more time to Hello Kitty and her friends...they were much more spectacular in the dark!