a thanksgiving party and the lighting of the tree

Yesterday was The Mayor's Thanksgiving party at school.  He was so cute dressed in his feather headdress and turkey shirt.  But my favorite part of the day was when he and Love Bug walked hand-in-hand out of his school.  I love the way they love each other.

Today, it was the annual Christmas Tree lighting at our neighborhood outdoor mall.  We have gone every year they have done it and this year was no exception.  The best part, however, is Meega, J and Bennett joined us this year.  We all went to dinner together, then bundled up the little ones and found our place next to the tree.  The parade started with the high school band playing and then Santa arrived on his horse drawn carriage.  The Mayor was really into it this year.  He was thrilled to see Santa!  After Santa read "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" and sang "Jingle Bells" the tree was lit.

the crew

the boys

sweet Love Bug

best seat in the house

me and my boy

so happy

After the tree lighting, the four of us headed up to Lake Lanier for The Magical Nights of Lights.  There are about a million different Christmas lights on display.  This was the first year we have gone with the kids.  Once we entered the park, we unbuckled the kids and put them in front with us.  You just have to come up with a whole new word to describe how excited The Mayor was.  Because excited just doesn't do it justice.  He would say "look, look, look, look!" and "it's amazing" and "the lights are so beautiful" and about a dozen other phrases that made me so happy we all took extra long naps and stayed up past our bedtimes for this.  We ended up at Santa's Village where we got to say hello to Santa (isn't it amazing how he was able to get from the tree lighting and up to the park so quickly!?), grabbed some hot cocoa (and coffee for D and me), bought some marshmallows and a s'mores kit and roasted marshmallows by the fire outside.

It was the perfect day.  We even started bringing up our Christmas decorations from the basement.  Since we will be gone all week next week, we decided to get most of the decorations up before we leave.  That way we can just enjoy them all when we get home.

Tomorrow is going to be crazy busy.  Putting out Christmas decorations, laundry, packing for the week and running some errands.  The day will fly by.  But that's ok...because Monday morning, we are South Georgia bound.

enjoying our s'mores by the fire

Love Bug and D eating their roasted marshmallows

enjoying some yummy hot cocoa

*a huge thank you to Meega for taking the pictures at the tree lighting...I left my camera at home so I had to use the camera on my phone while at Magical Nights of Lights.