Santa Claus and Christmas Festivities

We had a lot of Christmas fun this afternoon beginning at four and lasting until nearly 8! Santa visited Blacksburg, followed by the lighting of the town tree, and the Christmas parade along with other festivities. We are having to make a really conscious effort with the kids to remind them every day of the real Reason for the Season so we're doing a Bible verse with our daily advent calendar.

Here's the pic I've been waiting all year to make:

Grace was scared of Santa. There was no way she was going anywhere near his lap. Mrs. Claus, however, was a lot less threatening. She is, after all, wonderful with kids.

Archie liked Mrs. Claus, too, and proudly showed her the letter he had written to Santa.

The line to see Santa was a bit long, but we enjoyed meeting this nice Elf along the way.

Before the parade, we stopped at a craft bizarre for some free hot chocolate and face painting. Both kids love getting their face painting, which is a bit surprising to me because I always avoided it.