Holly Jolly Party

Yesterday I decided to be brave and take all the kiddos to a Christmas function going on at a park on post. I'd never heard of the park, didn't know where it was (I looked it up on the fort map and it wasn't listed), and wasn't sure what to expect...all I knew was that it was open to the public, there was supposed to be tons of activities for the kids, and hey, it's free. I debated all day about going--I'm a bit adverse to wandering around and getting lost on post without Ryan and I wasn't sure about being out in a large crowd with 4 kids without him too. On top of that, it was stinkin COLD!!!! The high was only in the 30s. But of course I had already mentioned the idea of going to Julia earlier that day so she held me to it. I'm sooooooo glad she did.

We found our way easily (a girl at the community center for my neighborhood called the place and got the directions for me) and the parking wasn't bad at all. There was tent after tent lined up on both sides of the field. The line for Santa was too long to stand in, but the kids had so much fun seeing everything else.

Here we are at the Whoville Library tent with Cindy-Lou Who (each tent had a theme and was decorated accordingly--and had people dressed up as the characters). And at each tent, there was either an activity for the kids to do or they could pick out at toy.




And at Cinderella's castle...


Julia's gift which she picked out--she absolutely loves her new purse.


Eveln and Jacob with the gifts they picked out--a new purse, bookmark, and stuffed toys.


I'm not quite sure who this is supposed to be--some Christmas puppy? He had a basket full of toys which he was handing out.


Even better than Santa (sometimes) was Frosty the Snowman!!! Julia and Jacob couldn't get to him fast enough while Evelyn was too scared to approach.



The best for last--they had the Polar Express! Of course, my batteries had all but died (there were so many pictures that I missed! Buzz Lightyear with Woody and Mr. Potato Head, Jacob sitting on The Grinch's lap--that green dude was kinda scary, Tigger, the Christmas Post Office, Mary Poppins who handed out plastic spoons dipped in chocolate and covered in powdered sugar (get it?)....oh well). I was lucky that my camera even turned on to get these two.



We all had soooo much fun there, however, we only stayed an hour since it was just sooo cold. But we got to enjoy the music (there was live singing and cute little girls dancing in tu-tus to the Nutcracker) and meeting so many characters. The also enjoyed seeing some of their friends from school there.

So it's supposed to snow this afternoon--between last night's fun and the weather, I think we are all in the Christmas mood!