Advent - Day 10

After much confusion about dates and ticket prices and purchases, we ultimately ended up at Santa's Village tonight.  It wasn't the original plan, but it all worked out and we had fun despite the 48 degree weather.

When we left our house at 5:54, we thought we were so on top of things, and we just knew we'd beat the crowds that weren't as clued in as us.  We're so with it.  But, shockingly, we didn't get parked until about 6:20 because of the mobs of people waiting to get in (we live about 5-7 minutes from Santa's Village...which opens at 6pm).  It looks like next year, we'll be leaving our house at 4:54. 

We finally parked and unloaded, and after passing about 8 houses, we found several that had decent waits, so we got in line.

First stop was Santa's bank where the kids were given an ATM-type card to withdraw cash so they could pay for a dum dum.  Works for me.  And for Char...

She immediately popped that thing in her mouth and held onto it during the entire wait for our next house, the police station...

The sugar coma is starting to set in...

Luckily she finished just in time and snapped out of her trance...

As we got closer to the police house, Hunter saw a man dressed as McGruff the dog inside and quickly cowered behind me, grabbed tightly to my leg, and exclaimed, "I don't want to go in there!"  We told him he could just take a picture with the police men and not McGruff.  Luckily, McGruff decided to take a break with only 2 families in front of us and we didn't have to deal with him.

Finally, it's our turn!

Even in McGruff's absence, Hunter decided not to try on the police get up.  Or speak to the police officer.  But if you look closely, you can see Hunter smiling at him in the background. 

Charlotte did agree to wear the jacket, which was layered on top of a tshirt, zipped jacket and coat.  Hence her balance issues here...

Well, sort of smiling...

Hunter did take a sticker badge and proudly wore it on his coat.   His first choice would definitely be a fireman, but policemen are pretty cool, too, since their vehicles also have sirens.  The boy loves sirens.

The last house was Dr Seuss.  Thing 1 and Thing 2 greeted us outside, but I wasn't at a good angle for picture taking.  Still recovering from the sight of McGruff (and probably life size Thing 1 and Thing 2 characters who touched his hand), Hunter decided to sit this one out also...

And Charlotte had her balance back without that extra layer.

Tonight we read Luke 2:8-9, which states "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified."

We always pray for our friends and family that send us Christmas cards that day, and today we received James's parents' card, which was a picture of Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the shepherds in the barn.  No wise men...very Biblically correct.  It was the perfect picture to go along with our verses for the day!