Small Town!

I was reading in the paper about different towns and their Christmas celebrations. I decided it would be fun to go to a neighboring city and participate in their fun festivities! They were having a parade, tree lighting, hot chocolate, craft fairs and what pulled me in the most - fireworks at 8:00! Chris was thinking it would be a nice night to go to the YMCA, but being a kind husband, he went along with my plans! We started out with the parade, it mentioned something about fire trucks, but I guess I didn't quite understand. It started out with their High School band and then fire truck after firetruck! I was remembering how many times Chris mentioned he had a headache on the way over and started to burst into laughter, as each fire engine seemed to be louder then the last! They did have pretty lights on them!! They even had Santa on one of them! The parade ended with Mr & Mrs Clause in a convertible(yes, try to explain to an 8 year old how Santa can be in 2 places at once!) Yes, that was the parade! I should feel safer knowing how many firetrucks are close by!!

We then decided to go to the tree lighting ceremony, I think I was still laughing! We see this big tree - maybe 50 feet tall and another tree next to it about- maybe 10 feet tall. We waited patiently for Mr & Mrs Clause to come and light the tree! Wait - 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 -then the little tree lit up! We were all staring at the big tree - nope - no lights - more laughter - everyone joins with me this time!

We then walked over to a church and the mood changed. They were having a Jesus store and I had no idea what that was! They gave us a ticket and we walked in - still not knowing what was going on. The chapel was full. We asked and they said they had rooms full of gift -free! They had been collecting items all year long for this special event. We didn't need anything so we decided to go and thanked them for their great service - then they asked if we would like to tour what they were doing. We were so touched as they had a room full of beautiful gift baskets full of new items. Then then walked us to another area and it was like a big garage sale, but you just take what you need. We saw a lot of people getting the help they needed and this time we all smiled and thanked them for the service they were providing. They said this would be the last year that they did it! The world is full of goodness and kind people.

We walked around and looked at different shops until the fireworks - we were wondering if it would be like the tree lighting - maybe sparklers! They had beautiful fireworks! It was a fun evening - laughter and we felt the spirit of giving!

I have always teased Chris about being a Grinch! He worked retail for many years, and that is one way to get an overload of Christmas materialism! I know I may go a little overboard with the holiday, but I love it! Chris has been so wonderful about the holiday! He lets me do my own thing and willingly goes along with it - a huge Christmas gift! He even let me listen to music at a volume that rattles the house while I decorated! I sure feel blessed to have such a wonderful husband!