Christmas is a festive time everywhere, but living in Phoenix gives us lots of free celebrations to choose from! This year went to the tree lighting celebration in Verrado, the community where Crossroad meets.

A lot of the cities ship in snow for their Christmas festivals, and I was hoping Silas would have a chance to experience it. I imagined a large pile of snow where kids and babies could play at their own pace. Instead, we found a fenced in area under a lighted tent that contained, what looked like, very icy snow. The adult supervisor would let in a few rowdy kids at a time who would immediately begin pelting each other with snow. Too bad there wasn’t a baby/toddler section. I guess Bitty Boy will just have to wait for an authentic snow encounter.

We did manage to squeeze onto the last horse drawn hayride of the night. It was a tight fit, but a very Christmas-y activity.The next weekend we watched Buckeye‘s Electric Parade. What a great choice for Silas’s first parade. He was wide-eyed the entire time! Everything in the parade–people, four wheelers, semis, tractors, garbage trucks, fire engines, carriages pulled by miniature horses–everything was decorated with Christmas lights. Stephen and I tried to get Silas to wave at the floats. He did wave, but I’m not sure if he was saying “hello” or directing music. Somebody gave Silas a glow stick and we realized it was the perfect toy for him–a combination of a stick and a light–two of Baby’s favorites.

What fun to see the lights, hear the carols, and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!