Thursday, December 29, 2011

christmas eve in the park

The holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day is my favorite time of the year.  It starts really getting cold around here and I'm definitely a cold weather gal.  Both my birthday & my husband's birthdays are right around Thanksgiving.  Plus, the holidays means family. 




As kids we had a few traditions that my parents and aunts & uncles kept going for us and now we're doing those things and making new ones for our kids.  My sister's family and Ray and I and the girls go to Christmas in the Park on Christmas Eve.  So far I think this is our 5th Christmas in the Park.  Christmas in the Park is a giant holiday display at Cesar Chavez Park in Downtown San Jose.  Girl Scout troops, preschools as well as other school grades, clubs and organizations decorate Christmas trees and every few feet there's some sort of animated display for the kids to ooh and ahh over.  Santa visits and you can get the best hot chocolate there.  It's so good because you literally can only get it at Christmas in the Park.  For the rest of the year it is nowhere to be found.

Over the years the event has gotten bigger and bigger and now it takes up a few streets close by with carnival rides and junk, but we only go through the trees and get our hot chocolate.  Two years in a row now my nephew has helped decorate his preschool's tree so our goal was to find that one and our great nephew Jacob's tree, but we couldn't find his!  We don't go through the whole park - it's a lot of trees.

 Dominic and his class tree

Must be Christmas.  The three kiddos all smiling and looking at the camera!
 
Olivia's first Christmas in the Park.  She's thrilled.

Annnnnd....it wouldn't be Christmas at Christmas in the Park without the Jesus people.  This year they were on both sides of the park and this one was just yelling.  The other one talks about how we're all going to hell.  It's festive.

After that we head over to my parents' house where we have hot chocolate with candy canes and the kids open a present or two and then we head home.

We made sure to bundle Olivia up before going out in the cold

 My mom made the 'big' kids bathrobes for Christmas.  Emma got a Disney Princess one, Dominic got Cars and Chloe got Minnie Mouse.  Can you tell we're a Disney family??

Hope your Christmas Eve was full of hot chocolatey goodness!


Photobucket


No comments:

Post a Comment

leave me some love. or hate. don't mind either, but if you leave the hate be prepared. i bite back.

Disqus for know-it-not-so-much