Christmas Lights

Last weekend, we went to the bay and watched a Christmas boat parade. People decorated their boats with lights and drove up and down the bay. We got a place to stand by the edge of one of the restaurants and were able to block the wind a bit until it died down. We weren't sure how hard it would be to find a parking place so we got there pretty early and hung out a while before it started.

We ended up being near other little kids around Anna's age. It was really cute to watch her interact with them. Some of them she liked to jump with, others she would reassure with a hug and at one point, she seemed to be making introductions. There was one little girl that she stood near most of the time and they watched the boats together. She has already learned that things are more fun when they are shared.

The parade lasted a while seeing as no one was going very fast. Some of the boats were more decorated than others but they were all nice. We were in a place where we were able to look down the bay and see them all lined up before they turned around and came back.


Then, last night we went to a neighborhood Christmas festival thing. They closed off a street and the people and businesses along it got all decked out with lights. Some of the houses had carolers (there was even a pretty good rock band), some had live nativities and others had treats. We got some cookies, didn't feel like waiting in line for the cotton candy, laughed at the ice cream and ran out of hands for the hot chocolate.

A guy from our church played the Grinch. You can't see it but he had a little dog up there too. He was totally playing the part and had a huge megaphone. This morning, there was a picture of him in the newspaper.


When we got almost ready to turn around, it started to rain. Lightly at first and then picking up so that before we got back to the car, it was raining pretty hard. Fortunately, we had just bought umbrellas that afternoon so we were mostly dry. Mine is even a golf-sized one so I held it out in front of me and it covered Anna too. I think the rain kept the crowds down because it wasn't too bad.
This house had Scrooge. When we went by the first time, people were waiting but nothing was happening. When we came by the second time, he was out there but it was raining pretty hard by that point so we weren't so interested in stopping to watch.

We have had fun getting involved in local Christmas activities.