Boy, is Christmas going to be extra fun this year! Quinn has really gotten into Santa this year and has even been to see him once already. I have pictures, but they are the film kind and not developed yet. I think we will take him once more on Saturday. The dealer where we bought our van is having Santa and free pictures tomorrow, and since it's just down teh street, we can take him inbetween Steve getting his shopping done.
The first time Quinn saw Santa was at Parks' Santa Fly-in. We went to Downtown airport, had cookies and hot cocoa and watched Santa fly in on a helicopter. Then we had to wait in a "very" long line to see Santa and get our picture taken with him. We got a stuffed reindeer and a candycane for the effort!
Last weekend was "Journey to Bethlehem" at church. This lasts four days and we (the church) have a ton of visitors before it's all done. The weather is always nasty the weekend of Journey, and this year was no exception. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights were cold (no precip) and then Sunday started off really nice. The temp. had warmed up and it was pleasant for those waiting in line (some had waited close to an hour and a half in line) until........the predicted weather hit! We got slammed with very high winds, sheeting rain and a cold front moving through with sleet behind it. The sudden change in weather put a damper on the night, but we still had 20 groups go through in spite of the rain!
All in all it was a succesful weekend, as 18,500+ people went through and saw the real reason we celebrate Christmas! Steve and I both worked all 4 nights and were very tired when it was all over. He workes the parking detail and gets to church early and I worked hospitality (cookies and hot cocoa at the end) and got home late every night since I had to be there until everyone was through and left. We serve homemade cookies to all that come though and usually shoot for 30,000 dozen cookies (that's 360,000 cookies). This year we broke attendance records for 3 nights (and total attendance) and had to put out pleas for more cookies on 2 seperate occasions. It's a lot of fun and very rewarding to work, but I've never been so tired in my life as I was when that was over!
It's hard to believe that there are only 6 days till Christmas and 12 until the new year starts! When you are young and hear people say that "the time goes faster the older you get", you never believe them but I have found that it really does fly by. It seems like just yesterday Quinn was a baby and now he's getting close to 5!
Quinn and Lola have gotten so close that she waits every day for the bus to get home. She has to go outside about a half an hour before he gets here, and when it's time for the bus she is parked by the front window just waiting. As soon as I go out the door she is parked just inside waiting for him to come through so she can attack him! They run around the house tackling each other and then settle down for a snack.
She has sttled in pretty well here - she likes to sleep on my bed and any time the blanket comes out she is right there ready to lay on it! She doesn't like to have doors closed, so if you are in the bathroom she will butt the door with her head trying to get the door open. She is also very prissy and doesn't like the rain , snow or cold. She would rather die than have to go out and get wet and cold doing such mundane things as going potty! Guess she's getting a coat for Christmas.
