Tis the Season...

Since I've been a stay at home Mom I've had a lot more time to investigate and find out what there is to do in this little city of mine. Well... there's quite a bit. Recently we attended both the Fredericksburg Annual Christmas Parade and the Fredericksburg Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony. Both were family oriented events. The parade was in downtown Fredericksburg, which (for those of you who've never been there) is very historical and filled with elegant old civil war era houses. It's very pretty. The parade draws floats and spectators from all over Virginia. There were literally thousands of people there. The parade started at 5:30 and we didn't arrive until 5:15. Now when I say arrive I mean in the general area of the parade. It was so packed that we had to park 1 mile away and walk to get to the parade area. Then when we got there the streets and corners were all lined with people three to four rows deep. People were extrememly nice and generous though which was very welcome. Everyone politely shuffled Ayla and I forward so that we could see because Ayla is a little kid and I am her Mom and very short. When all the shuffling was over Ayla and I had a pretty darn good spot. Ayla was actually right in the front. One of the floats that went by was shooting video of the crowd and they were broadcasting that video to a huge tv for everyone to see and there was Ayla marching along with the band and waving her little hands.  Here's some pictures of a few of the floats and parade participants.

 It was very chilly so I made sure to really bundle my kids up. Poor Caiden had a hard time putting his arms down. I must really have gotten used to the temperate climate since living here, either that or I'm becoming a wuss in my old age because I was horrified when we drove by a thermometer later and it said 48 degrees. "Really!" I said aloud. To me it felt like it was in the 30's. When it's 48 in Buffalo, people pull out there shorts and flip flops and make preparations to go to the beach! :) Okay maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but it felt a lot colder to me!

 Ayla and I had attended a cookie making party earlier in the day where we made many different kinds of cookies and brought quite a few home. Hence the chocolate on her face.