Christmas at the square!

There are some perks to living in an itty bitty town. And, no, shopping isn't one of them!! We had our 42nd Annual "Lighting of the Christmas Tree" this evening in our downtown square. There were only a couple hundred people there (yep, that's pretty much all of them, ha ha!) so it was easy to find a parking place and even easier to keep track of the boys. It was very VERY cold this evening though. But the games and SANTA seemed to make the freezing cold all the more tolerable. For the boys, anyway. Caden was the real trooper. He didn't really give a rip about the games or Santa...he spent most of the evening trying to get his darn hood off of his head.

This was the first game the boys played. It was the "Reindeer Walk". It was like the cake walk but instead of winning a cake, you won a reindeer. No, wait a minute...that's not right. It should have been called the "Jingle Bell Walk" because that's what you won. It most definitely was NOT a reindeer! Whew! Jackson won his first time playing. He was proud of his jingle bells.Here is our cute little bundled up Caden. He was not fond of the hood but his ears were probably very thankful. He really worked on trying to get that thing off of his head. Next, the boys played the "Unwrap Race". They basically had to unwrap a Hershey's kiss while wearing gloves. Nicholas won that race and quickly ate the chocolate. Jack, on the other hand, is no fool. He wanted no part of the chocolate but wanted to keep the gloves. Poor guy! He did (reluctantly) return the gloves for the next participant to use.Now, off to the "Candy Cane" race. I think they liked this one the best because it involved moving which created momentary warmth. Each game station provided the "winner" with a fun little Christmas toy. The boys cleaned up. Caden's still working on that darn hood. But his ears ARE still warm!!Well, here she is!! This is what all the hoopla is about. This tree! Yes, this one. The boys!! Three red noses, check!The "Snowman Toss". This game was actually harder than it looked. Neither Jack nor Nicholas got a single bean bag through a hole. And do you know what that means? That's right...it was a tie. So they both got a prize. What a great town!!This is the "Christmas Card Making Station". They both decided to make their dad a card since he had to work and miss the freezing cold evening, um I mean all of the wonderful festivities. Ah, and the last of the games. The "Penguin Walk". Enough said. Santa was quite the hit. He had his own police escort entrance. Sirens and all. And he rode in on a fire truck. Not too shabby. But, the Santa is a little spooky looking if you ask me. Could they not find one single man in this town with a real beard? Heck, we saw several of them in the crowd. As you can see, the boys were a little bothered by him as well. Most kids sat in his lap. My kids kept their distance but got close enough to tell the big guy what they wanted. I mean, really, how scary can he be...he does bring PRESENTS!!