Activities of the Season

It seems like every year I forget the dual reality of the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas - its chaoticness of activity and tasks, and its time of fun traditions filled with meaning.  The first ten days or so of that period has not disappointed. On the day of Thanksgiving itself, following dinner and some time to let the turkey digest, we headed out with Jackie's folks to take in some early season Christmas lights.  First, we headed to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo, where they had a path to drive through that showed off many light displays.  From there, we headed to the south end of Fort Wayne and the Jefferson Point shopping area, where we had heard they had a tree display show with lights and music.  It was a very cold night, and it being Thanksgiving, the area where the big tree was located was pretty sparse.  But, once the show started, that didn't stop Maia from enjoying the show - the tree, the lights, the music.

 

And of course, such awesomeness, demands dancing....

[youtube=http://youtu.be/HMkBKjVVoDg]

 

Following that, we headed downtown for something of a Fort Wayne tradition, seeing the big Santa lighted up on the side of a bank building, something that has happened in Fort Wayne since before WWII.

We had so much fun just that one night that we waited until this past weekend to engage in some more seasonal fun.  We headed to our town's "downtown," to watch as Santa Claus came to own to visit, escorted on a fire truck of course.  Maia was very excited to meet Santa Claus, as long as he was at far away.  Once we got up close, she insisted on keeping her distance.  As she told us later, when asked why she didn't sit on his lap, "I'm scared."  Though she did remember to say "Thank you Santa Claus" as we left the downtown area.

[caption id="attachment_792" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ready for Santa![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_793" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Now not so sure.[/caption]

From there we headed to Shipshewana to do some shopping (not realizing it was kid's day there).  We spent some time in the Red Wagon toy store, where Maia was immediately engrossed in playing with toy train tracks and play food sets.  Due to how much time we spend reading books at home, and maybe because she's starting to outgrow some of her toys, it was very neat to see her so engaged in playing.  It obviously gave us some ideas with Christmas coming up.  But, while the toy store was neat, the ultimate winner of the day was the Carousel in the Mercantile Building.  As you can see below, Maia had a blast...

[youtube=http://youtu.be/q43CD_98Qok]