Christmas Village and Santa

A couple weeks before Christmas, we made a small road trip with some friends to a Christmas Village. Leavenworth, WA is a Bavarian village that transforms itself into a living snow globe around Christmas time. It was charming and a very fun day trip. Because it is located in the middle of the cascade mountains, the closer we got, the more snow we saw. At one point Nathan needed to pull over so that he could "throw Levi in a snow bank."

Brick laid streets, small shops full to the brim with Christmas decorations, snow in the grass...it was any Christmas lover's haven. Levi walked around dreamily, wishing he could buy everything he saw.
This was hanging from the ceiling in one of the shops. There was just so much to look at every way you turned.
Gracie had the best seat. Lay back and take it all in.

They had a parade, which we missed because of lunch. But we did get to say hi to the characters that apparently marched in it. My kids would definitely like Disney World. No hesitation...just pure excitement and love.

It happens...Kitties with perfectly smooth complexions, rosy lips, and breath taking eye lashes need their beauty naps.

With this picture's help seems like as good a time as any to post that our next duty station will be Stuttgart, Germany. We won't be moving for another 8 months, but we found out at the beginning of January.
Levi was pretty ecstatic about the snow/ice. And he was really inspired to do things like this as often as possible.
ah, Levi. My perfect little photogenic companion. "Levi, go sit by the bear for a picture." Every pose he strikes is golden. It's also noteworthy that after I was done he stood up, punched the bear in his stomach and then went into the candy shoppe.

Naturally we had to delight ourselves in the plentiful goodies readily available every couple of stores. We took a little bit of a break for snacks in the car after tracking around the square.

And finally it was time for the lighting ceremony. It was super dooper packed and we couldn't actually hear any of the ceremony. But the lights were surely pretty.

That was our quaint day in our local Bavarian Christmas village.

Next we have a few pictures from our visit to see Santa before Christmas. The tree lot we went to last year that had the perfect Santa shut down this fall. But Home Depot, of all places, put on a little Christmas scene for the town. We went once it was already getting dark (sadly about 4:30pm) and apparently after some of the characters had gone home for the day. But all that was really necessary was a Santa visit. They had a few barn animals to talk to.

And I appreciated the large Nativity Scene. Gracie goes straight for baby Jesus. I pray her heart follows that natural path her whole life.

This was a very sweet Santa who really seemed to love his seasonal job and took his role seriously. He talked to the kids for a long time, and covered things like, "make sure you put your toys away so that your nice mom doesn't trip on them. And take good care of your little sister." I was just snapping pictures as they were talking. Levi had just told him something and Santa said, "ah" and gave him a squeeze.

Gracie was into it but also kind of cautious. She sat with them the whole time, by choice, but she wasn't expressive about it. I think she looks like Auntie Vera in the picture above.

There was a Mrs. Claus too, but neither of the kids seemed to think she was legitimate. Gracie accepted the hug but you can see in her eyes...she'd rather be with Santa.